The Dark Roses
by ShinigamiPhoenix
Summary: Rogue and her new team fight against a secret government agency that is trying to get all mutants arrested and executed. COMPLETE
1. Chapter One

Notes: For some reason, ffnet has deleted the first eighteen chapters of this fic. I, naturally, am extremely pissed off, not because of all the hassle, but because I deleted all the notes once I'd posted the chapter. So, I'd just like to give a general thank you to all the creators of the Dark Roses, apologies to all the people who gave me characters I couldn't use, and give a standard disclaimer that I don't own X-Men: Evolution.

Chapter One

Michelle burst into the large bedroom without knocking, her distant grey eyes wide with fright and her breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Rogue, we got a problem!"

Rogue woke up instantly, no hint of grogginess. As a former X-Man and leader of the Dark Roses, she was used to being woken up at strange hours and had to be alert if she wanted to keep herself and her team alive. "Mutant?" she asked, grabbing her boots from the floor and stepping into them.

"Yeah, but…"

"But what? Michelle, what's wrong?"

Michelle looked at her with terror in her eyes. "It's Jean Grey," she whispered, and Rogue jumped.

"What? No, that's impossible! Jean's dead!"

"It's her, I know it's her, and she's destroying the mall."

Rogue hesitated. It was her job to stop the mutants being controlled by the Agency, but stopping them usually involved killing them. Could she really kill her old friend? And not only that, but would she be able to? Jean was powerful, and with her advanced mental powers that she now had complete control over, she was almost unstoppable. What could she do?

"We're going," she said quietly, grabbing her jacket from the foot of the large bed and shrugging it on. Michelle nodded and sent out a psychic pulse, alerting all the Dark Roses. She felt their minds like a brush against her soul, each one different and unique.

There was Kar Riley, known as Discharge, a swirl of contained energy wrapped around a hard core of pain from the accidental killing of his family when he was thirteen. Kar was as energetic as his electric powers and clashed with Jamie's serious calm frequently.

Selene Andromea, known as Paradox, was a faded brush of light with a softly harsh edge. Selene was a lost soul searching, yearning for a home, not quite daring to hope that she had found it with the Dark Roses.

Ivy Dupree, aka Animal, was a feral cloud of barely-controlled rage and pain interlaced with a fierce loyalty and devotion. Ivy was slightly scared of her mutation, of the beast within her, but she was very slowly learning that she wouldn't hurt or kill those close to her heart.

Envee Waterman, aka Zephyr, was a whirlwind of fresh enthusiasm mixed with a strong will and a fiery temper. Envee was the most street-smart of them and frequently talked herself out of tough situations. And when talking fails, she punches her way out of them.

Jamie Phillips, codename Tempus, was a confusing blend of old and new, a serious mixture of fresh and ancient, with a thirst for knowledge. Jamie was not a fighter, but she was the smartest of them, a child genius at the age of thirteen, and her unique power made her invaluable to the Dark Roses.

She felt them all feel her call and know what it meant. She felt them become alert and tense, and in the case of Envee and Kar, excited. She also felt a spark of excitement from Ivy's beast, but also felt the real Ivy squash that feeling.

Rogue walked down the stairs and out of the house, her team following silently until they were all standing in a circle. Rogue spared a moment to notice how different each Dark Rose was.

Kar was 5"7 with deep purple hair and shocking green eyes. His slender yet muscular frame was hidden by a black t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, a torn-up pair of jeans held together with safety pins, black combat boots, and a black trench coat. He looked very much like the young punk rocker he was. He was also the only male Dark Rose, after Gary had been killed two weeks ago. He grinned at Rogue and his eyes flashed purple, the colour they turned when he used his powers, showing his eagerness for battle.

Ivy was one inch taller than Kar, with a slender, slightly muscled body. Her jet-black hair was straight and chin-length, her amber eyes unobstructed by bangs. She was wearing her usual outfit of loose blue jeans, a loose yet well-fitting tee shirt, and flip flops. The outfit was designed to let her shift into her animal form easily and not shred her clothing. She had discovered that wearing tight clothing and then morphing left her naked when she returned to her human form. She looked at Rogue and gave a calm nod, acknowledging Rogue's authority over her. Ivy didn't do well with authority unless she respected it, and it had taken a few object lessons for Ivy to trust Rogue.

Envee was exactly the same height as Ivy, and had a pretty similar body in that she was slim but muscular. She had been born with green hair, but had dyed it black, leaving some green streaks for cool factor. Her eyes were a completely normal dark brown. She was wearing a black long sleeve tight shirt with a white star in the middle, with jeans, black and white converses, black hoops, and black fingerless gloves. She was flexing her hands into fists and then relaxing them again, letting loose small wisps of air from her fingertips that whispered through the grass at their feet.

Selene was 5"6 with dark brown hair pulled into a braid and cool green eyes. Her body was slim, but had the muscles of a trained acrobat. She was dressed in a black spaghetti-strap top, jeans, black tennis shoes, a dark brown trenchcoat, and white gloves. She was rolling her shoulders to loosen her muscles, like any good acrobat did before exercising. She looked at Rogue and smiled.

Michelle was exactly five and a half feet tall, with almost no muscles to speak of. Her shoulder-length hair was a beautiful strawberry blonde and her eyes were grey and distant, as if she were hearing or seeing things that everyone else couldn't. She was wearing faded blue jeans, white tank top, and trainers, a very unremarkable outfit that let her pass unnoticed. She didn't like being noticed.

Jamie was the shortest, unsurprising since she was only thirteen, and because of her young age, didn't know squat about fighting. She had short reddish-brown hair and brown eyes hidden behind round glasses. She was dressed in black trousers and a dark red tee shirt, with trainers. Her fingertips were stained with printing ink from the various newspapers she read daily.

Rogue looked at them all and thought of the mutant they were about to face. She prayed that they would all survive, and in one piece. Then she looked at Jamie and nodded.

"Alright, Jamie, you're up."

The young girl mimicked her nod and then rubbed her hands together, letting out her breath. She concentrated on the ticking of her watch and willed it to slow down, to stop ticking. She wrapped the Dark Roses in a bubble of non-time and felt the air around them still, the noise stop, as if the world had ceased to be. She opened her brown eyes, which were glowing oh so slightly with her power, and nodded again.

"How long can you hold it?" Rogue asked as they began walking at a brisk pace towards town.

"Not long, I haven't eaten yet today. I should be able to get us there, but I won't be able to heal anyone of any major wounds until I've rested a bit."

Rogue looked at everyone else. "Alright, you heard her, you get hurt, you're on your own."

"Well that's simple enough," Kar said, grinning, "We just won't get hurt. What're we up against, anyway?"

Rogue sighed, closing her eyes briefly. "A powerful telekinetic and telepath. She can rearrange things on a molecular level, and hit you with psychic blasts. She's one of the most powerful mutants around. She was supposed to be dead, but apparently not."

"She got a name?" Ivy asked, and Rogue hesitated.

Almost everyone knew the names of the infamous X-Men, but few actually remembered what they looked like. Did she tell her team just who they were fighting? It might prepare them better, but it might also scare them. She had trained them to be prepared for anything and everything, to not make any assumptions and not take any chances.

"No, not that we know of," she eventually said, and then fell silent, her thoughts spinning in her head. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Michelle raise a hand to touch her temple, trying to ease the pain her empathic abilities were making her feel, and the gesture was so like Jean that Rogue's heart skipped a beat.

Jean had always been kind to her, always been there whenever she needed it. And now she was about to try and kill her.

Oh yeah, she was a great friend.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Zephyr proved to be invaluable in the first minute of the fight, as she could use her power to counteract Jean's. Meaning that whenever Jean attempted to throw them into a wall, Zephyr could create a blast of air to protect them. It wasn't foolproof, and they often got knocked back a couple of feet, but it did help, as did Discharge's ion shield, which protected them from psychic blasts.

"Dammit, we have to get close to her!" Animal growled. "All we're doing is huddling inside this stupid ion bubble!"

"I need to think of a strategy first!" Rogue snapped. "She's not exactly a pushover!"

"Think fast, bosslady," Discharge said, gritting his teeth, his muscles training with the effort of maintaining the ion shield. "She's hitting me with a lot of force and I can't keep this up for much longer."

"Alright, alright, alright. Um…. Alright, Zephyr, you go out to the right and hit her with some air blasts, Animal, you come up from the left and behind her and just attack, Discharge, you stay here and throw some electricity balls at her, Paradox you stay here in case we need you later on, Michelle and Tempus, you two stay here and get read to protect us if we get hurt."

Everyone nodded and sprang into action. Zephyr clapped her hands and then held them outwards, sending out a large blast of air that slammed into Jean and sent her flying. Discharge dropped his ion shield and began throwing balls of sizzling electricity at her.

Animal morphed into her animal state. She grew a couple of inches and her muscles enhanced themselves. Her skin remained furless, but her facial features rearranged themselves slightly, her eyes becoming cat-shaped, and her face thinning out to give her a sort of triangle-shaped head, like a cat or a wolf. Her teeth grew into deadly fangs and her fingernails turned into sharp, grey claws. Her ears grew pointed. Her feet grew slightly, becoming a strange mixture of feet and paws with grey claws that matched her hands.

Growling, Animal leapt onto Jean's back and began biting into her neck with her large teeth, tearing flesh and muscle and snapping bones. Jean screamed and threw Animal off her with her powers. She collapsed to her knees with her neck a bloody ruin, her shoulder and right arm painted red. A glob of flesh trailed down her arm to splatter onto the ground. Anyone else would have collapsed on the brink of death, but Jean remained on her knees, glaring and panting. Obviously Animal had missed her windpipe and spinal cord.

Discharge threw a large electricity ball and it hit her solidly in the chest, making her cry out and hunch in upon herself. She looked like the picture of defeat. Rogue knew better.

A blast of psychic energy pulsed out of her body, crashing into the Dark Roses and knocking them backwards. Animal growled again and ran to her, only to be knocked down by another blast.

Rogue hated seeing her team get hurt so badly, but she had to hold back, wait for the right moment. Her gun was a cold weight in her hands, comforting and troubling all at the same time. The safety was off and there was a round chambered, but she couldn't use it yet, because she would only get one shot before Jean took the gun away from her.

She couldn't think right now. Thinking was bad. If she started thinking, she'd start remembering how she and Jean had first met, how Jean had reassured her and comforted her. She'd start remembering all those all-nighters they pulled, watching movies and studying for exams. She'd start remembering that Jean had been one of the first real friends she'd ever had.

Zephyr threw a ball of compressed air at Jean, hitting the redhead in her stomach. Animal attacked Jean's thigh, biting down hard, letting the blood flow into her mouth and swallowing it eagerly. She bit off a huge chunk of flesh and began devouring it, ignoring the larger meal for the appetiser.

Jean fell to the ground, screaming in a mixture of pain and rage. She was almost completely covered in blood, from the wounds in her neck, thigh, and one on her left shoulder from an electricity ball.

"Come on, target one of their minds," Rogue whispered, watching the fight with intense eyes. Her wish was granted, and she saw Jean focus her crazed green eyes on Zephyr.

Zephyr screamed and fell to her knees, clutching at her head. The pain lashed through her mind, burning with fury, attacking her soul, tearing little pieces out of her heart and consuming them. The pain and rage and loneliness and utter despair ripped at her mind, at her heart and soul.

A shot rang out, loud and deadly, followed by a stunned silence. Jean's eyes were wide and filled with confusion. She tried to breathe, once, twice, and then collapsed forward, her tangled red hair covering her face, mingling with the blood still pouring from her wounds.

The Dark Roses stared at her, not really sure if it was over yet. They had seen mutants get up with bullets in them before, and this mysterious mutant was more powerful than most.

Rogue lowered her gun and sucked in a deep breath, staring at the bloody and broken body of her friend. Silently, she whispered a final apology and goodbye to her friend, before holstering her gun and gathering her wits.

"Alright, let's get out of here before the cops show up," she snapped, and then saw a problem.

Animal was lapping at the blood pouring from Jean's neck, nipping at the flesh with cautious little bites.

"Animal, leave her alone!" Rogue commanded. The command was ignored, save for a threatening growl. Animal didn't want anyone coming near her meal. The body was HER food and she wouldn't share.

"Shit," Rogue cursed. This was always a problem when Animal morphed and there was blood spilled. She glanced at Michelle to see if she could hit Animal with a psychic blast, only to find the blonde clutching at her head and whimpering. So much for that plan.

Sighing, Rogue pulled off her left glove and stalked over to Animal. The other mutant raised her head and snarled, low and dangerous.

Rogue feinted to the right, somersaulted over her, and grabbed her forearm. Her power flooded into Animal and sucked on the girl's life force, pulling the energy from her body. Animal gave a screaming yowl and collapsed on the ground.

Rogue broke the contact and struggled to control the raging emotions inside her, the wildness, the urge to hunt and feast…. No! She wasn't an animal! She was a human being! She had control over her urges!

Drained of her energy, Animal had morphed back into her human form, and lay panting on the ground, her face covered in blood. A small piece of flesh clung to her jaw. She groaned and tried to stand up, only to fall back down again.

"Easy," Rogue muttered, kneeling down next to the girl and pressing on her shoulder to keep her still. "I took quite a bit, you won't be able to move for a bit. Discharge, you get to carry her home."

"Who gets to carry the body?" Tempus asked, looking at the mutilated corpse. Despite her young age, she wasn't horrified by the sight, because as the resident genius, it was her job to perform the autopsies on the controlled mutants, trying to find out just how they were being controlled. Seventeen corpses and she didn't have a single credible theory.

"Can you stop the blood moving?"

Tempus nodded. "Sure. It's almost stopped anyway."

"Do it, and I'll carry her."

Tempus shrugged and focused on the corpse. The blood was only trickling from the wounds now, the heart no longer beating to pump it through the veins, and she slowed that trickle until no blood moved at all.

Rogue picked up the body as if it were a doll, holding it easily over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. Discharge picked up Animal in a kinder way, cradling her against his chest, and she was too weak to protest. Besides, it was kinda nice.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Ivy stared at her reflection with dull, haunted eyes. Her naturally pale skin was almost white, making her amber eyes seem unnaturally bright. The water in the sink was no longer clear, but pinkish red with blood. The memory of what that blood tasted like was still fresh in her mouth, despite the three rounds of toothpaste and mouthwash. She could remember oh so vividly tearing through all that flesh and muscle and bone, remember the primitive urges welling up inside her and consuming her.

Her hands gripped the edge of the sink so tightly her knuckles were white, and she tried to force the horrible memory into the black box at the back of her mind where all the other horrible memories resided. It was a big box.

Someone knocked on the door and she jumped nervously. Swallowing her pulse, she unlocked and opened the door to glare at Kar.

"What?" she asked in an angry grumble, and he ran a hand through his long purple hair, eyeing her uncertainly.

"Listen, I, uh, just wanted to, uh, say that, uh…."

"Spit it out, Kar."

"Um… uh… don't… feel bad… about, uh… attacking… that mutant. Um, I know you, uh, don't like… your mutation, but, uh… it's not… horrible, or anything. Um… I mean… it doesn't make you… inhuman, or anything. It, uh…."

"What the fuck would you know about it?" Ivy growled, and Kar suddenly lost his nervousness. He looked at her with an angry, defiant stare.

"I know that I killed my family, fried their bodies until their skin was black. The smell of burning flesh was everywhere. I could barely tell who was my mother and who was my father. I was thirteen and I killed them. So I know about feeling inhuman and horrified with yourself. And I'm telling you not to."

He turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving Ivy staring at his back in stunned amazement.

Well damn.

Closing the door and leaning against it, Ivy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Kar was right. She had done what had to be done to make sure she and her friends survived and no one else got hurt or worse. She hadn't even killed the mutant, Rogue had. All she'd done had wounded her. It wasn't so bad. Really.

-------------------

Kar threw himself on his bed and glared at the ceiling. How could he have been so stupid? Trying to comfort that cold, heartless bitch! It wasn't his problem if she felt bad for trying to eat that mutant! And what was he thinking, telling her about his parents? Was he insane? Just because he happened to like the older girl didn't mean he had to tell her about his past and try and make her feel better! Well… okay, the last bit wasn't true, but he still didn't have to tell her about his past! Dammit, no one but Rogue was supposed to know about his past!

Kar sighed, feeling the anger drain out of him at the thought of his parents. They'd been at the beach, having a picnic. His power had only just manifested and he didn't quite understand the full potential held within his body. He'd been laughing and having a good time, really happy and excited.

Then he felt something tingling inside his belly, like prickly little snakes. The feeling had spread outwards, coating his body, and sparks began to appear, shivering across his skin. He'd gotten scared, not sure what he was doing and not knowing how to stop it.

The sparks got bigger, turning into large bolts, until they began to swirl around him in the air, faster and faster and getting bigger and bigger. He'd watched helplessly as the whirlwind of electricity surrounded him, tears running down his face.

His mother had run towards him, crying out for him to stop it, that it wasn't funny, that she was scaring him. His father had grabbed her wrist, telling her to stay away, it wasn't safe. And then his mother touched the whirlwind.

She screamed, electricity coursing over and through her body, scorching the flesh, and through his hold on her wrist, the electricity jumped to his father, and he joined her in screaming. They stood helplessly trapped, unable to break away, and he didn't know how to stop. He watched through a moving sheet of electricity as he shocked the life from their bodies.

They'd crumpled to the ground, his mother's hand trailing through the whirlwind, and lay dead at his feet, like some grotesque sacrifice. The whirlwind pulsed and spun outwards before disappearing, and he fell to his knees, exhausted.

Someone had called the police, and he watched, too tired to move, as they checked for pulses on his parents. He saw them glance at each other, and at him, and he would always remember the look in their eyes: fear and horror.

He'd stood trial, and been deemed innocent under the new set of mutant laws because he had been new to his powers and not understood what he was doing, sort of like a child with a loaded gun in his hands.

He'd gone to a foster home, only to be kicked out after two weeks when he accidentally blew up the microwave. The next foster home lasted a grand total of three days, when he shocked one of the other kids. It was the same everywhere he went: he'd stay for a little bit, accidentally use his powers, and get kicked out.

And then Rogue had found him. She'd explained who and what she was and offered him to help him control his powers, offered him a home. He'd accepted because he really didn't have a choice, and learned to like the mysterious, tough girl with a very sexy Southern accent.

And then Ivy had come along, and he'd felt… something. Not love, not lust, but… something. He couldn't describe it, wasn't sure he wanted to, but whatever it was… it was powerful. He hated to see her upset, hated to see her so bitter and angry. He loved to see her smiling, loved to see her relaxed. But he knew he could never have her. She was filled with too much rage and sorrow and horror and fright that getting close to her was nearly impossible. She kept everyone at a distance, terrified that she might hurt them.

Someone knocked on the door and Michelle walked in without waiting for permission. Kar glared at her. He was really not in the mood for company right now.

"Alright, spill," Michelle ordered, standing in a very aggressive stance, hands on her hips, feet apart.

"Nothing to spill."

"Bullshit. I can feel your emotions from downstairs and it's giving me a headache. Either tell me what's bugging you, or go out and get calm. I'm still shaky from Ivy's emotions during the fight, I don't need your angst on top of that."

"Stay out of my heart, you bloody empath," Kar said in a quiet, perfectly controlled voice. His eyes flashed purple and sparks danced across the skin of his hands.

Michelle decided that it was the right moment to leave and walked back down to the living room.

"I swear, it's a wonder I'm not driven insane by my bloody powers," she grumbled, flopping down in one of the armchairs. Rogue glanced at her and shrugged.

"We have stressful lives."

Michelle snorted. "That's an understatement. How's Jamie doing with the autopsy?"

"She should be finished in about an hour."

"D'ya reckon she'll find a pattern or trend or something?"

Rogue sighed heavily, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "I don't know. We've had seventeen corpses and so far there hasn't been one link between all of them. Two were sisters, three had lived in the same town and two were born on the same day, but… there's nothing. We don't know how they're being controlled, by who, or anything. If we could find out how they are being controlled, we could work at neutralising it, instead of killing them. But there are no toxins in their blood that we can find, not machinery inside them like a chip or a bug or something, you haven't sensed anything wrong with their minds-"

"But I could be wrong on that," Michelle insisted. "When we find them, they are just so completely insane that I can't get more than basic emotions-anger, hatred, greed, stuff like that. I mean, even if they were perfectly normal, I'd have to concentrate for a couple of minutes if the brainwashing wasn't blatantly obvious. I'm more empathic than telepathic."

"Yeah, I know, I'm not blaming you or anything. It's just… all we know is that someone that we call 'the Agency' is somehow controlling mutants and making them destroy things in order to get all mutants arrested and executed. And so far, it's working. Dr. Keller and Dr. Garrison are doing all they can to stall the courts, but… if we don't find out what's going on soon and stop it, we're all gonna be hunted down like dogs. Just like…"

"The X-Men?"

Rogue sighed again and closed her eyes. "Yeah."

"Well, we aren't the X-Men, Rogue. We're the Dark Roses, YOUR Dark Roses. You trained us well. We won't make the same mistakes they did. Hopefully we'll make new ones."

Rogue had to smile at that. "Yeah. Look, why don't you go get some rest? It's getting late."

"You gonna be okay?"

"I'm more worried about Ivy, actually, but yeah, I'll be fine. It's just… memories. They'll go away in a few hours."

"Alright. G'night, bosslady."

Rogue nodded and watched the blonde leave. Michelle was the only person who knew that Rogue had been an X-Man, because she had disappeared early on in the Mutant Wars, at the Professor's orders. He wanted her to stay in the shadows and take care of things after the Wars, whatever the result. So, the few that knew there had been an X-Man called Rogue had had their minds wiped. She existed only in the minds of the dead. That was… depressing.

"Oh for-! I'm sleeping in the damned driveway unless everyone stops overdoing it with the angst! I'm getting a frigging migraine! Work through your problems, people, or I will bash them out of you!"

Rogue smiled and forced her thoughts away from her past. That happened fairly frequently, for all of them. They all had darkness in their pasts and didn't like to think about it much, because it just hurt. So they thought about the present and the future and let the past rest, as much as they were able.

"Rogue!"

Rogue chuckled and shouted an apology. She grabbed her laptop from the coffee table and brought up the files for all seventeen mutants. She'd add Jean's when Jamie was finished with the autopsy.

Because there were so many files, she just brought up the pictures that had name, age, mutation, date of death and place of birth written besides them. She stared hard at the information, trying to find some link that she had missed.

Then she realised something, one of those realisations that came out of nowhere. Jean had supposedly died in the Mutant Wars, along with the rest of the X-Men. But Jean had shown up, crazy and out of control. If she wasn't dead, then it was in Rogue's best interest to assume that none of the X-Men were dead. And if they were all being controlled by the Agency….

A frustrated scream came from upstairs, and a second later, Michelle stomped down the stairs in her pyjamas, dragging her pillow and a blanket.

"I'm sleeping in the SUV until everyone calms the fuck down!" she shouted, flinging the door open and stalking outside.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Jamie blinked and tried to focus her eyes on her computer screen, but it was hard. She hadn't slept in just over seven months and she needed a nap. Her mutation let her exist outside of time, meaning that she could alter her age anyway she wished and be immortal by routinely de-ageing herself. It also meant that she only needed about an hour of sleep a year to function normally, so she didn't actually have a bedroom, she just used the sofa for naps.

But right that moment, she wished for a bed. Back home, she'd had a fabulously soft bed with the thickest, warmest quilt around and a huge mound of pillows. She'd always slept with her teddy bear Muddle. She wished for her bed and her teddy bear. But her bed was gone, and so was her teddy bear.

So Jamie wandered into the living room and collapsed on the sofa, curling onto her side. She closed her eyes and tried to drag her thoughts away from her long-gone home. It didn't work.

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I don't know why I called him Muddle, just that I had. He'd been my constant companion since I was two years old, and at some point had given him a ridiculous and pointless name. I tried to rename him a couple of times, but nothing fit, so he remained Muddle. He was soft fur was a very dark brown, his eyes a brilliant emerald green, and something in his short yet eventful life as my companion had caused him to get stitches next to his mouth, giving him a sort of sarcastic little smile.

I hugged Muddle to my chest, trying so very, very hard not to think. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be. I wasn't a freak. I was just me. I was not a… mutant.

Logically, I knew that there was nothing wrong with being a mutant, that it was just a leap in evolution that theoretically should help our species survive, but I had been raised by avid mutant-haters and I knew what would happen to me if I were discovered. My parents would hate me and disown me. I would be left to fend for myself in a world that hated and feared me. I would be attacked and hurt.

All because I had been born with the X-Gene.

I don't know why my parents didn't have me tested when I was born, but didn't think about it too much because if they had, I doubt I would still be alive. They would not tolerate having a mutant daughter. No way.

So what was I going to do now? Could I hide what I was from my parents constantly? What if I slipped up? What if I had an accident? Just what were the limits of my powers? What exactly could I do? Would I hurt someone? Kill someone? Was I a monster like my parents thought?

I normally like questions. They mean there are answers out there that I don't know, that there are still boundaries to my intelligence, boundaries that I can push past. I didn't like these questions, because I was afraid of the answers. God, I was so afraid.

Okay, I had to be logical about this. I had to be calm and collected. If I was going to be hated by my parents and kicked out, I should just leave and spare myself the pain. Right?

But it wasn't that easy, and I knew it. I was only eleven years old. Where was I gonna go? How was I going to survive? Was I going to survive? More questions, to which I feared the answers.

Forcing myself not to think about anything, I found my little backpack and filled it with a couple of changes of clothes, some underwear, and my hairbrush, toothbrush and toothpaste. I'd have to wait until later to get some food out of the kitchen, and some money out of Mother's purse.

Where was I going to go? That was probably the most important question right now. I was only eleven, so I couldn't go to a hotel or something without raising questions, and I sure as hell didn't want to live on the streets. A police station, maybe? Tell them I'm… having amnesia? No, they'd try and put me in a foster home and it'd be the same as it would be here, hiding who and what I was. So… where? Where could an eleven year old mutant go when she was all alone and terrified? I didn't have a clue. I just hoped that there was some place I could go.

It was late evening by the time I managed to creep into the kitchen. Mother and Father were both in the study and would be there for a few hours. I packed crisps, a couple of those nutrition bars Mother likes and some protein drinks and bottles of water. I also packed a large packet of digestive biscuits. I shoved some little sweets into the pockets of my coat and went to find Mother's handbag.

It was by the door, sitting next to the coat-stand, like always. Listening carefully for any signs of my parents, I opened her purse and pulled out a handful of notes, putting them in my pockets with the sweets. A few coins for little purchases and I was set.

I quickly ran over my mental checklist. Food, check; drinks, check; clothes, check; money, check; Muddle, check; courage… well, we'd see about courage.

Taking a deep breath, I quietly opened the door and stepped outside, the door clicking softly shut behind me. I crept down the pathway leading up to the house, opened the gate, and then ran as fast as I could.

I wouldn't notice until much later that everything was very quiet, my footsteps unnaturally loud in the eerie silence. I ran as fast as I could and prayed that no one would recognise me, no one would stop me and question me.

When I reached the end of my street, I turned and looked back at my home, at that place of warmth and security and comfort from which I was now exiled. Would I ever see it again? Would I want to?

Holding Muddle tightly in my arms, I turned away from my home and began walking, saving my energy for when I might need it.

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Jamie awoke with a start and sighed. She remembered that night so vividly. It had been the night when she had stopped being a child and forced to be an adult. It had been the scariest night in her life, when she had seen just what kind of people were in the world. It had been the night she had lost her teddy bear and her innocence.

"Jamie, you alright?" Selene asked, frowning at the little girl.

"I'm fine. Just had a bad dream."

Selene smiled. "You sleep about an hour a year and you have nightmares. Irony, huh?"

"Yeah. Did you want something?"

"Rogue says she wants to go over that mutant's autopsy with you. I've already told her what I could from assisting you, but you're a genius, and I'm just wicked smart."

Jamie smiled and stood up. "Right. She up in her room?"

"Yep, sitting with her laptop and frowning."

Jamie nodded and brushed past her, walking up to Rogue's room. Rogue was the only one of them to have a room to herself. Selene and Ivy shared, Michelle shared with Kar, and Jamie didn't need a room.

Rogue was sitting on the bed with her laptop perched on her knees, frowning at the screen, as Selene had said. She glanced up at Jamie and waved for the girl to come in.

"So, what do you need explaining?"

"You made a note here, that there was a strange toxin in the blood that hadn't been in the other mutants'. Do you know what it is?"

"Nope, with the equipment we have I can only identify that it's there. I sent it off to Adam at the lab and labelled it urgent. Should have it soon."

"Good. Ya know, she was a powerful telepath. Only two people have ever been able to control her mind, so either the Agency have a seriously powerful telepath working for them, which is doubtful, or they've got some sort of drug or chip or something."

"But I haven't found anything."

"Right. So, chips are out, which leaves a drug, but we should've found something by now. I mean, eighteen corpses and we don't have a single common thread. It's getting ridiculous."

"We're doing what we can."

Rogue snorted and stared at the laptop's screen in silence, praying for inspiration to hit. It didn't.

"Maybe… we're looking in the wrong place," Jamie murmured after a few moments, and Rogue frowned at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe we shouldn't be looking at the mutants, we should be looking at who's there when we fight. I mean, these people want to dehumanise mutants, so they're making mutants go crazy and destroy things. Wouldn't they want to watch somehow?"

Rogue grinned. "You're a genius, Jamie! Can we get security camera footage or something?"

"I can try. I'll get Selene to help me out."

"Do it, quick as possible."

"Yes, ma'am." Jamie grinned at her in a rare moment of humour and walked out, leaving Rogue with her thoughts.

_I wonder if the others are still alive,_ Rogue thought. _And if they are, what does that mean for us and our survival? Will I have to kill them all? Scott and Bobby and Jubilee and Roberto? Will I even be able to?_

Michelle walked in and perched on the desk. "Alright, wanna talk about it?" she asked bluntly.

"Talk about what?"

"About the worry in your head and the… fear? Rogue, I've never felt you afraid before. What's wrong?"

"It's… nothing."

"Bullshit."

"Michelle…"

"Look, I'm the empath, alright? That makes me the defacto shrink for this nuthouse. I can feel your emotions and figure out the solutions and whatever you say will be strictly confidential. So, wanna talk?"

Rogue hesitated. She wanted so much to open up to somebody, to pour out all the pain and hurt and anger. But… that just wasn't who she was. For years she'd hid who she was to protect herself, and she couldn't stop doing that overnight.

"I'll be fine," she mumbled, not looking at the blonde psychic. She focused on feeling calm, retreating into the white place inside her head where nothing existed, not even herself. She heard Michelle sigh and waited until she had left before looking up, her grey eyes filled with sad disquiet.

She thought mostly of her best friend and her brother. Kurt had been one of the first to be killed. He hadn't been a fighter. His job had been to teleport the wounded to their makeshift hospitals. He'd been killed when one of aforementioned hospitals was destroyed by a bomb. Her best friend, however, had been one of the last to be killed. Scott had been one of their strongest fighters and had one of the highest kill counts. Yet his impressive powers and fighting abilities didn't stop the bullet to the back of his skull.

She'd seen it one the television, watched the blood and brains splatter onto the ground, watched his powers fade with death and had seen, for the first time, his eyes. They were a deep chocolate brown colour, as serious and determined as he was. She'd been so angry when she'd seen him die, and wrapped around that anger was sadness.

That had been the day when she recruited the first Dark Rose, Ivy. Filled with all that anger and sadness, she had talked for hours with the feral mutant, and eventually recruited her.

When Ivy asked about the name, Rogue showed her the tattoo of the black rose she had on her right shoulder. She'd gotten the tattoo in memory of all the mutants who had fought and died for mutant rights and freedom, who had sacrificed themselves for the future generations.

The rose wasn't the only tattoo she had. No, she had one other, running down her spine. It was a long line of small black letters and read: Logan, Ororo, Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, Marie. The original X-Men.

She'd thought she was the only one left. But Jean had been alive. Alive and suffering God knows what at the sadistic hands of the Agency. Jamie's autopsy had revealed several fresh scars that Jean hadn't had when she was an X-Man. Some were barely healed, others were years old. She'd said that it was the result of several classic torture methods, cutting and whips, burning and gouging. She also said that a number of scars were the result of… new techniques. She hadn't elaborated, looking slightly green, and Rogue had decided to let it pass.

"Rogue, dinner!" Kar shouted from downstairs, and she sighed, pushing aside her memories.

Michelle was the most accomplished cook out of all of them, meaning it wasn't a fifty-fifty chance of burning the house down every time she entered the kitchen. She'd cooked a simple chicken stew with little biscuity things that Jamie loved, and Rogue had a beer with her meal.

"So, how are you coming with the security cameras?" she asked, and Jamie smiled.

"Good and bad. I can hack into the system easily enough, but I have to download all the right shots, and then compare them to each other and note down any people who appear more than once. It's… tedious."

"Since when have you ever cared about that?" Selene asked, smiling, and Jamie frowned at her.

"I don't, it's just this isn't even remotely interesting, not at this stage. All I'm doing is downloading footage. Once that's done, it'll be interesting, but until then it's just boring."

"Poor baby."

"Shut up, you don't like it anymore than I do."

"True."

The rest of dinner passed with nothing more than polite chit-chat and rude jokes from Kar. It was Michelle and Selene's turn to do the dishes, so everyone else drifted into the living room.

"Rogue, I got a question," Kar said, flicking onto a music channel.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. When we find these guys, what're we gonna do? I mean, we've never really gone into the details, just that we're gonna stop them."

Rogue thought for a moment and then said in a quiet voice, "We're going to kill them."

"All of them?"

"Yep. Anyone who had a hand in the controlling-mutants project. We'll kill them all, and salt the earth, as the saying goes. I am going to make sure that no one ever even thinks of restarting the project."

"But… that's cold-blooded murder."

"So?"

Kar just stared at her. He'd had a hand in killing the previous mutants, but that had been life-and-death, them-or-us situations. He wasn't sure he could go and kill a bunch of people he'd never met, no matter what they'd done.

Rogue saw all this in his eyes and sighed, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

"Alright, I guess this had to happen sooner or later. I am a killer. I've killed dozens and will kill again. Anyone who messes with me or those I care about will eat a bullet. I have no problems with killing anyone who deserves it, and these bastards definitely deserve it. So I am going to slaughter them. You guys are a fantastic group, and I love you all, but if you can't handle that, then you need to leave now. We have a solid theory for the first time, and this might just be the turning point for us. Everything we have fought and bled for is leading to the murder of the bastards we know as the Agency. So, again, if you can't handle that, leave. I won't stop you, and I won't hurt you, as long as you don't try and stop us. It's your choice. But decide tonight."

She stood up and left, graceful and unconcerned; at least on the outside. On the inside, she was worried about what they would decide. She had grown close to her team mates and didn't want to lose them. But she couldn't force them to be murderers either. She wouldn't train them and mould them to be what she wanted and not care about how they felt. She wouldn't be like her damned mother.

Sitting down on her bed, she pulled out her journal and ran her fingers over the name embossed in gold on the black cover. She opened it, found a pen, and began to write. Her journal was a mixture of journal, to do list, and archive of poetry. It was her most prized possession and had been with her since her days as an X-Man.

--------------------

Thoughts and worries buzzing in my head,

Will they all stop, if I was dead?

Would this aching pain leave my soul?

Will resting peace fill the gaping hole?

Something's missing, something's lost

I must survive, at any cost

But my life is so empty, my life is so grey

The pain I feel inside, I never can say

They must not find out, they cannot know

They could never understand the extent of my woe

So I'll put on a smile, hide behind my mask

And pretend that it's not a tiring task.

I'll pretend that I'm happy, I'll pretend that I'm fine

And I'll keep the pain inside, the pain that is mine

------------------

Someone knocked on the door and Rogue quickly put her journal away, composing her features into a distantly interested expression.

"Come in," she called, and the door opened to reveal Selene. The brunette closed the door and leaned against it, hands behind her back. "Something wrong?"

"No. I heard what you said."

"And?"

"And I wanted you to know that I'm staying. I'm not really okay with the killing, I don't think I ever will be, but… these people are evil, and I don't think anything short of death will stop them. If they don't die, they'll continue hurting mutants. I've seen some fucked up things, it's hard not to when you live in New York, and… it always made me sad that no one ever tried to help all those people. I mean, some of them were just little kids! But everyone was too absorbed in their own lives to care. It always made me so sad and so angry. And I don't wanna be one of them. I want to help people, to protect them. When you found me, you promised you'd help me do that. And if that means killing… so be it."

Rogue just looked at her for a moment, and then smiled. "Thank you, Selene."

"No problem. Listen, I know I had one this morning, but is it cool if I take a shower?"

"Ask Kar, it's his turn."

"Oh, damn. He's gonna want a favour." Selene pulled a face, but when to find Kar. He was still in the living room, frowning and absently kicking his foot to the beat of the song currently playing on the TV. "Uh, Kar?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I take a shower? It's your turn."

"Sure."

Selene blinked at the distant answer. _He must still be thinking about what Rogue said_, she thought. She hesitated in leaving, wondering if perhaps he needed to talk to someone. Although Michelle was their unofficial shrink, sometimes a psychic was the last person you wanted to talk to, because sometimes you didn't want to talk to someone who knew your thoughts and emotions better than you yourself did.

"Uh, Kar?" she asked hesitantly, taking a step back into the living room.

"Hmm?"

"Do you, ah, wanna talk?"

"Hm? About what?"

"About your decision on whether or not to become a murderer."

Kar pulled a face and sighed. "It's just… I don't know if I can do it."

"Well… what do you think we're doing?"

"Killing people."

"And that's it?"

Kar looked confused, and Selene noted absently that he looked kinda cute when he was confused. "Whaddya mean?"

He obviously hasn't thought this through, Selene thought, flopping down in an armchair. "Okay, so these guys are capturing, torturing and probably killing mutants, in order to get mutants de-humanised and arrested and executed. They've tortured eighteen that we know of, and probably dozens more. Remember the fourth mutant we fought? He was only nine years old, and had scars all over his body. These guys have no problems with torturing and killing little kids, because they don't see them as human. They will continue doing this shit until someone stops them, and seeing as they belong to some branch of the government, imprisonment won't happen. The only thing that will stop them is death. And the only people who can and will kill them is us. Now, do you want to back out and let them continue hurting all those mutants who's only crime was being born with the X-Gene?"

"No, I'm not saying that they don't need to die. It's just… I'm not sure if I can kill them. I just don't know if I can do it."

"Well, the only real way to find out is to try. I'm pretty sure I can kill them, but there's this tiny little part of me that wonders if I'll hesitate. I don't think I will, but I might. Rogue won't, because she's killed before. This is a milestone for any human being, one that not everyone has to pass. It's a simple question, really: can you kill in cold-blood if the person needs to die? Almost anyone can kill if their own lives or the lives of the ones they love are in danger, but few can go out and kill someone they've never met just because they need killing. You have to decide that for yourself. No one can make the decision for you."

Kar smiled mirthlessly and muttered, "I almost wish they could."

"You're not good at following just anyone's orders, Kar."

"Yeah, but if Rogue ordered me to do it, I would."

"Rogue wouldn't do that. She's very serious about us making our own decisions. She doesn't want us to be little puppets."

"Yeah, I've noticed that." Kar frowned, and then shrugged. "Kind of a shame really. Having a beautiful woman boss me around would be kinda fun."

Selene quirked an eyebrow. "You want some woman to boss you around?"

"Well… maybe. It'd be interesting to say the least."

Selene shook her head with a rueful smile. "I always knew you were weird. Well, I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Yeah, okay-hey, wait, it's my turn!"

"Yes, it is."

"If you want a shower, you owe me a favour."

"No I don't. You already agreed."

"I-you-I… aw, fuck it."


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

This chapter is dedicated to lethalperception7, creator of Selene, as thanks for the advertising/reviewing, and apology for my forgetfulness. I really am sorry! Anyway, enjoy and review!

Selene was grinning widely, and even Jamie had a small smile on her face. Rogue raised an eyebrow and waited for it, still absently cleaning her gun. Jamie handed her a sheaf of papers, all showing black-and-white photos of the same man. He had dark hair, broad shoulders, and sunglasses. Rogue frowned at the pictures. There was something annoyingly familiar about him.

"This guy was at every single fight apart from the one with that kid."

"Really. Do we have a name?"

"I'm running the picture through all the databases, and if they come back negative, I'll hack into the NSA's database. We'll find out who he is eventually."

"Work fast. The sooner we find out who he is, the sooner we can kill him."

"Working as fast as we can, bosslady."

Rogue nodded, still looking at the picture. What was it about him that was so familiar? Something about… a uniform?

"Check all the military databases first, yeah?" she said to Jamie, who frowned but nodded.

"Sure. You got a hunch?"

"Maybe. He just seems familiar, something about him in a uniform. I dunno."

"Well, if he is in the military, I wouldn't be surprised that you know him-you've had a lot of run ins with the military."

Rogue snorted. "Yeah." She bit her lip, looking at the picture again, trying desperately to think of where she'd seen him before, but it was sometimes hard to remember what was her own memories, and what memories belonged to other people. She was almost sure she'd seen him before, but it might have been someone else.

"Um… listen, when you find out this guy's name, only tell me, 'kay?" She didn't know why she'd asked that, just that it might be important. Jamie raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"Sure, if you say so."

"Good. Michelle, can you get any psychic imprints of these pictures?"

Michelle frowned and brushed her fingertips against the top picture before shaking her head. "No, completely blank. Sorry."

"It's alright. We need more food, who wants to do the shopping?" The abrupt change in subject was not unusual, and no one commented on it.

"I'll go, I could use some fresh air," Kar said, grinning. "And Ivy can come too, to make sure I don't get myself into any really bad trouble."

Ivy rolled her eyes, but didn't comment. Rogue nodded and left, taking her gun with her. After a minute, they could hear her shooting at the target outside.

Kar grinned and pulled Ivy to her feet. "Come on, my lovely lady, I got money that's burning a hole in my pocket and we're all out of chocolate chip ice cream! Also, we don't have any more cheese for my famous cheese-bacon-turkey-lettuce-ketchup-egg-chilli sauce sandwich."

"One day that is going to rot out your stomach lining," Ivy muttered, and Kar just nodded happily, pulling on his coat.

"Probably, but at least it tastes good."

"It tastes horrible, Kar."

"Says you."

"That's such a mature response."

"I never claimed to be mature."

"Good, you shouldn't lie."

"You lie all the time."

"That's different."

"How?"

"I can beat the shit out of anyone who argues with me."

"I can fry the shit out of them."

"Kar."

"Yes, my lovely lady?"

"Shut up."

"Why?"

"Because you're annoying me."

"So?"

"I hit people who annoy me."

"Aw, but you love me too much to hit me, right?"

"No."

"I'm crushed!"

"Diddums."

----------------------

Who was he? Why did he look so familiar? Why did his picture fill her with hate and… shame?

Rogue was tired of these questions, but they kept preying on her mind, not giving her any respite. She sighed and stared at her reflection, specifically her eyes.

There had never been anything innocent in her eyes, she'd always known that the world was a cruel, dark place and that you were either a fighter or a victim, predator or prey, but she had never had such… empty eyes. Ever since she'd started the Dark Roses, something had been taken from her, lost forever, some spark of… idealism, hope, innocence. Her stormy grey eyes were like a cloudy winter sky, bleak and desolate, where the sun does not shine brightly on the world below, but instead hides its face for a happier day. She wondered if that day would ever come. She doubted it would. The promise of a happier day had died within her when she had seen Scott get his brains blown out.

What was there left for her now? When she stopped the Agency, there would be no reason for the Dark Roses to exist. So what would she do when that happens? What else could she do but fight and kill? Was that all she was? A killer? Surely there was something else that she could be. But what?

And what would happen to her Dark Roses? She had trained them to be fighters, even killers, and there was nothing that could undo that. Would they be like her? Empty and without hope? Had she made a mistake in training them? Did she care if she had?

Sighing, Rogue turned away from the mirror and walked to her bedroom, lying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling. She was just so tired… but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep.

As always, the thing she wanted was the thing she couldn't have. She wanted Scott to love her, but he was in love with Jean. She wanted to be held and cherished, but couldn't touch. She wanted her friends to live, but couldn't save them. She wanted to be happy, but her life was so depressing. She wanted to die, but had to live.

-------------------------

As ordered, Jamie brought the man's name straight to Rogue, saying that he had indeed been in the military.

"Lt. Colonel Henry Mitchell," Rogue murmured, staring at the printout. "I know him… but I haven't been to any of these bases. So… oh shit."

"Rogue?"

"Leave."

"What?"

"Leave!"

Jamie blinked and left, not liking the sudden look of rage on Rogue's face. The auburn haired mutant was so angry she was shaking, gripping the paper tightly in her fist.

It was him… that bastard… the one who'd… he was back… he… he had…

------------------

I was the first to be interrogated, so no one knew what to expect. Three guards had submachine guns pointed at me as I was lead to a separate room, where a tall, broad-shouldered man was waiting. He smirked at me and I glared back.

"Hm…. You're quite pretty."

Excuse me? I didn't let my surprise or confusion show, though, just let him walk around me as if I were a dog he was considering buying.

"Yes… quite pretty. Strip."

What? "No fucking way."

One of the guards hit me with the butt of his machine gun, right at the base of my neck, and I fell to my knees, still glaring.

"Strip," he commanded harshly.

"Fuck. Off."

He backhanded me, and I fell down sideways, trying to ignore the burning pain in my cheek. Fucking ouch.

"Strip voluntarily or I will cut that costume off you body. You choose."

Well, that was a nice choice. I didn't want to strip, no way no how, but I also didn't want that bastard to bring a knife anywhere near me. Sure, I could take it away from him, but not without inviting a fight, and I could not win against three submachine guns and four handguns.

So… I jerked my gloves off, throwing them on the floor, and resisted the temptation to touch him. I pulled off my boots and uniform and was left in my black satin panties and matching bra. I glared at him, not a hint of embarrassment. I had a lean, curved body, and was proud of it. Just because I had been forced to strip for someone who was probably going to try and rape me (wouldn't that be interesting) didn't mean I had to be ashamed of myself.

"Like what you see?" I asked in a taunting voice. His eyes were cloudy with lust, and he kept licking his lips and swallowing. "Well, just try and touch me. I'll put you in a fucking coma or worse."

A hint of fear seeped into his cruel, hard eyes, and I smirked. These bastards really were scared of us. They hadn't seen me use any powers in the fight with the Sentinel, just good martial arts, but all the other X-Men had put on a pretty good show, and they didn't know what I could do.

"Just what are you?" he demanded.

"I'm pissed off, is what I am. What the fuck do you want with me?"

"I want you… to beg."

Ex-CUSE me? His lips twisted into an ugly, sadistic smile, and gestured to one of the guards. Using his gun as a baton, the ginger-haired guard forced me to my knees and kept me there.

"Beg me, freak," the leader ordered. I glared. "Beg me to let you live. Beg me not to cut you and rape you and hurt you. Because you sure aren't human, none of you are."

No fucking way was I going to beg this sick bastard to let me live. If he didn't like it, he could shoot me. I was NOT begging.

"Beg. Me. Now."

"You are a sadistic idiot and I will take great pleasure in getting revenge for everything you do to me today," I said quietly in Mandarin. I'd made a point of learning other languages so that I could insult and threaten people and not have to worry about repercussions. He frowned, confused, and I smirked again.

"Baka," I said, using the Japanese word for idiot. Unfortunately, he knew that one, and he punched me again, in the same cheek. Dammit that hurt! I made an absent note that he was wearing gloves. Shame.

"Beg me or I will hurt you!" He shouted, and then he seemed to calm himself down. He smiled at me in an almost friendly way, and I felt icy fear spike through my gut. "Or maybe I'll just leave you alone. Maybe I'll hurt one of your other friends. The Negro kid perhaps? Or maybe the blue animal? Or the guy with the metal claws?"

Oh shit. That bastard! I couldn't just stand by and watch my friends get hurt, and he somehow knew that. That fucking bastard! Rage and shame welled up inside me, and I felt tears prickle at the backs of my eyes, but refused to let them fall.

"… Please… sir… don't hurt me… don't hurt them." Oh, Gods, it tasted bitter to beg. But I had to do it. I couldn't let the others get hurt when such a simple thing might save them.

"Again."

"Please, sir, I… plead for mercy. Please don't hurt us."

"Call. Me. Master."

I closed my eyes against the tears and ground out the words. "Please, Master, don't hurt us. Please. I'm… begging you."

"Oooh, I like this. Again."

He made me beg for over two hours. It didn't get any easier, but the thought of my friends kept me strong, not just my friends who were captured with me, but of the other X-Men. They were going to rescue us. I knew they were. They had to.

"Please, Master, I'm begging you not to hurt us. I am you humble servant, I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt us. Please, Master. Please. I'm begging you, Master."

--------------------

"Rogue, we got a mutant at the park!"

"Shit." Pushing aside the memories of her time spent at Area 51, Rogue holstered her gun and jogged downstairs. She found everyone waiting outside, huddling in their coats against the wind and rain.

"Go on, Tempus."

Tempus closed her eyes and rubbed her hands together, before slowly drawing them apart, creating a No-Time bubble around them. The raindrops froze in the air and the wind stopped completely. Everyone automatically smoothed their hair back into place as they began walking.

"Alright, what's the sitch?" Rogue asked, and Michelle frowned, absently rubbing her temple.

"This guy's called Onix, and he's powerful. He can create this sort of crystallised armour, and energy blasts to boot. He's not gonna be a pushover."

"So what else is new?" Ivy muttered, her eyes alight in anticipation.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

He was just like the others: crazy, full of rage, out of control, and powerful. Sure, the looks were different, this guy was tall and muscular, with long black hair and bright blue eyes, and there was the fact that his skin was covered in hard black crystal armour and pure white light swirled around him a blazing cloud, but all the Dark Roses saw was that fire of insanity in his eyes.

"Alright, Tempus, Michelle, Discharge, you're on defence, everyone else, attack!"

Everyone instantly obeyed, with Discharge throwing up an ion shield to protect Tempus and Michelle, Animal morphing to her animal self, Paradox creating a sword made of shining white light, and Zephyr creating two balls of wind in her hands and throwing them at Onix. They crashed into his hard armour and evaporated. Onix didn't even flinch.

Animal threw herself at him, claws and teeth scraping against the crystal. She soon realised that biting just gave her a toothache, and jumped back to lash at him with her claws. Rogue fired twice into his chest, only to have the bullets glance off the armour and bury themselves in trees. Animal's claws left the faintest of scratch marks, but nothing else. Zephyr's air blasts were doing nothing. An electricity ball hit Onix in the abdomen and sizzled away into nothing.

"Dammit, Rogue, how are we supposed to get through that goddamn armour of his?" Zephyr shouted, leaping out of the way as Onix threw an energy blast at her. It hit a tree instead and took out a large chunk of bark.

"Just keep trying!"

Zephyr didn't have time for a snappy and irritated comeback, but she really wanted to. She spared the time for a heated glare at her leader and then dodged another ball of energy.

Animal attacked Onix's shoulder, scratching at the part where it turned from shoulder to neck. Onix whirled around and gathered some of the energy that was swirling around him. He threw it and it hit her solidly in the chest. She growled/screamed and flew backwards with the force of it. Discharge created a hole in his ion shield to let Tempus through, and the little girl ran to the wounded mutant.

Healing a wound wasn't really healing, it was just speeding up the natural healing powers of the person's body with her own powers over time. She closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling the body beneath her hands, and accelerating the healing process. The energy hadn't done too much damage, just cracked a rib or two, so it was healed in a moment, and Animal pushed her away as soon as she was healed.

Paradox manoeuvred her way behind Onix and slashed at his back with her sword, creating sparks of white light when the weapon connected with the hard armour. She left a faint scratch mark, but that was it. She was about to try again when Onix whirled and knocked her away. She flew backwards and landed hard on the ground, groaning and trying to catch her breath. She wasn't wounded, and gestured for Tempus to stay where she was.

Michelle hissed in annoyance when Zephyr threw a large wave of compressed air at Onix, but only succeeded in making him take a step back.

"Dammit, we can't win against this guy." She looked around desperately for some way to help, and then frowned when she saw someone half-hiding behind a nearby tree, watching the fight. She recognised him as Lt. Colonel Henry Mitchell and glared.

"Tempus, Discharge, check over there." She pointed to the skulking man and the other two looked. Discharge glared as well and created a ball of electricity.

"Low voltage, we don't want to kill him," Michelle said.

"I know. I'm gonna have to drop the shield to aim, so watch out." The ion shield vanished as Discharge took careful aim. He threw the electricity ball and watched with grim satisfaction as it hit the man in his shoulder and knocked him down and out.

"Rogue, we got Mitchell!" Michelle shouted, running over to the man and making sure he stayed unconscious.

Rogue glanced at her, despite all her training and experience, and the next thing she knew, something hard connected with her jaw and she was flying backwards. She landed with a grunt, and her head slammed into the ground. Black dots swam before her eyes and she fought the urge to be sick.

Moaning, she struggled to get up, but Tempus touched her shoulder and shook her head. Rogue complied and just lay there while the young girl healed her jaw.

"This guy's unstoppable," Tempus whispered, helping her leader sit up.

"Ugh. No one's unstoppable. W-The X-Men defeated Juggernaut numerous times, and if they can do that, we can do this."

"We aren't the X-Men, Rogue! We're not even close!"

"Wrong. We're better." But mentioning the Juggernaut made her remember how the Professor had stopped him. It gave her an idea. "Where's Michelle?"

"Guarding Mitchell."

Rogue's expression went stony and cold, and she felt rage well up inside her, but she firmly pushed it back down. Now was not the time for revenge. She had to end this fight, make sure her team was all in one piece, and then she could get her revenge.

Rogue stood up and walked over to where Michelle was watching over Mitchell. The man was slumped on the ground, the shoulder of his dark suit burnt and singed. Rogue glanced at him, but then ignored him and focused on Michelle.

"You're an empath, right?" she asked, and Michelle frowned, nodding. "Can you project emotions from one person into another?"

"Uh… I… I'm not sure. I've never tried."

"Can you do it?"

"I guess so. Maybe. Why?"

"I want you to project all the calm and peace that's in Tempus to Onix."

"That's… if it works, that's brilliant!"

"Thanks. Focus."

"Right." Michelle moved to where she could see both Tempus and Onix and took a deep breath. She focused on Tempus, who was calm and serious, the desire for the fight to be over breathing through Michelle's mind. Michelle held onto that feeling, and switched her focus to Onix. The controlled mutant was a storm of rage and hatred, all instincts and desires, no thoughts involved. Michelle let that feeling wash over her mind and willed it away, drawing on Tempus' serene calm and pushing it towards Onix.

She frowned, feeling the mutant resist her touch. The rage increased, filling her being and making her clench her fists, but she was stronger than that. With an inarticulate scream, she metaphorically shoved the calm down Onix's throat, pushed it into his heart and willed it to stay there. It did.

Onix grunted and fell down to his knees. The Dark Roses frowned and watched, not understanding what was happening. Michelle pushed again, only absently aware of Tempus' surprised gasp. The black armour coating Onix's body melted into his bronze skin, leaving him looking human and very confused.

Still confused but knowing they had a job to do, Paradox reversed her grip on her sword and hit him in the head with the flat side. Onix grunted and crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"Is… that it?" Zephyr asked uncertainly, and Michelle nodded.

"Yeah, that's it. Everyone can calm down now. That means you, Animal."

Animal growled at her, but there was no blood spilt, so she reverted back to her human form.

"Where's Rogue?" Selene asked, still gripping her sword.

"Over here. Selene, put it away."

Selene frowned, looking at her beautiful, shining sword. She hated dismissing her weapons, but couldn't think up a good enough excuse to keep it, so she reluctantly let it go, and it dissolved into specks of white light.

The Dark Roses all gathered around the unconscious Mitchell, and waited for Rogue to give them their orders.

Rogue stared at the man for a long time, hatred and anger burning in her grey eyes. Her hands clenched into fists, but she took a deep, calming breath and let it out.

"Alright, Kar, Ivy, you get to carry Onix, I'll carry Mitchell. Jamie, get us a bubble."

"Yes, ma'am."

----------------------

They put Mitchell in the basement, tying him to a chair and handcuffing his hands behind his back. Kar had searched him thoroughly to make sure he didn't have anything dangerous on him. Jamie gave him a sedative that would keep him out for the rest of the day, so they could focus on Onix, who they put in Rogue's bedroom.

"Ya know, he's kinda handsome," Selene said thoughtfully, looking at the sleeping mutant's face.

"Selene, twenty minutes ago he was trying to kill you," Kar said patiently.

"So?"

Onix groaned in his sleep and everyone tensed. "Oh, did someone get the number of that truck that ran over me?" he grumbled under his breath, running his hand over his face. Then he blinked and sat up, eyeing the Dark Roses warily. "Okay, who the fuck are you guys?"

"We are the people you tried to kill twenty minutes ago," Ivy said flatly, and Onix blinked again.

"Excuse me? I-oh shit."

"I guess he remembers."

"Ivy, cool it," Rogue ordered. "Look, we don't want to hurt you, but you gotta promise not to attack us."

"Sure, I mean, why not? You seem okay. Just, where the hell am I?"

"At our house, and that's all you need to know for now. You got a name?"

"Alistor Ross."

"Great. Can you tell us what you remember from before you fought us?"

"Um… not much. Just… darkness, and cold. I heard… screams occasionally, and shouting. I remember… lots of white coats, so doctors or scientists probably. They… gave me injections, and… things got hazy, but I was so angry I just wanted to trash things."

"Do you remember seeing any other mutants?"

"Um… this one girl, a redhead, I saw her a lot. They were always taking her past my cell, and she was always covered in bruises and blood, something about her being 'too strong'."

Jean, Rogue thought, but pushed the thought aside, because it wasn't important just now. "How long were you there?" she asked, still trying to keep her tone gentle.

"A few weeks, I think. I don't know. I never saw daylight, so time was sort of a blur."

"Why didn't you ever see daylight?"

"Well, my cell didn't have any windows. I think it was underground, but I'm not sure."

"Makes sense," Michelle murmured. "They wouldn't want just anyone to be able to walk into their base."

"Anything else?" Rogue asked, and Alistor shook his head.

"No, things are kinda hazy, I think it was the drugs they gave us."

"We didn't find any drugs in the mutants' bloodstreams."

"Well, you wouldn't, because it didn't last very long. I overhead some of the doctors talking, something about how the drug broke down after about half an hour, but the effects lasted for about two hours."

"I hate to admit it, but that's really clever," Selene said, sighing.

"Alright, can you guys answer some of my questions now?" Alistor asked, and Rogue smiled.

"We'll try."

"What the hell happened to me?"

"You were captured by a secret government agency and forced to go crazy in an effort to get all mutants arrested and executed."

Alistor blinked as that sank in. "Shit."

"Yep."

"And you guys are…?"

"Trying to stop them."

"And you fought me?"

"Yes."

"How'd you win?"

"Michelle, our empath, forced you to feel calm, and then Selene knocked you unconscious."

"Uh huh."

"So what do we do with him now?" Ivy asked, ignoring the fact that Alistor was in the room.

Rogue frowned thoughtfully, turning the idea over in her mind. "Well, we are one short since Gary died."

"What? Rogue, you want him to join us?"

"He's strong, good at both defence and offence, and he has some vague memories of the Agency. He could be useful. Besides, what if they try to recapture him? I don't want to have to fight him again."

"Rogue, look, I'm sorry, but we don't know a thing about him!"

"He's not evil," Michelle said firmly. "All I can sense from him is the lasting effects of my peace-bomb and a sort of calm seriousness. He wants to stop the Agency from doing to others what they did to him."

"Still-"

"Ivy, this is my decision!" Rogue snapped, and Ivy glared at her, but didn't say anything else. Rogue nodded and turned back to Alistor.

"So, you wanna fight with us or not?"

"Uh… yeah, I think so, but could I get some introductions first?"

"Sure." Rogue smiled and quickly introduced the Dark Roses, saying name, powers, and anything else Alistor would need to know, like to not piss off Ivy.

"Alright, I'm in," Alistor said. "Let me grab some things from my home, though, if it's still there. I swear, if they trashed Stien, I'll fucking kill them."

"What's Stien?" Kar asked, frowning.

"My sword."

"Cool."

"Thank you."

"Alright, Selene, grab the SUV and drive him, and you might want to stop off at the club and tell Cathryn about him. Oh, and could you ask her to get a new com-watch for him, please?"

"Sure thing."

"Who's Cathryn?" Alistor asked, standing up.

"Our financier. She gives us money and stuff we need and we promise to destroy the Agency."

"Hm. Sounds fair."

"We think so."

Rogue waited until Selene and Alistor had left before dismissing everyone except Ivy. Kar grinned as he went, knowing what was about to happen. Rogue fixed Ivy with an icy stare, but the feral mutant remained unfazed.

"It's a mistake," she insisted quietly.

"Maybe, but it's my mistake to make. I do not want you questioning my orders like that. If you have any objections to my decisions, tell me in a calm and orderly manner and give me good, logical reasons. Michelle has verified that he wants to fight with us, he will be a valuable member of this team, and that is all we need to know. If he turns out to be unsuited for this team, I will dump him, but until then I want you to treat him with the same respect and courtesy you do everyone else, do I make myself clear?"

Ivy glared but nodded and muttered a, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now, get down to the basement and guard Mitchell, I want to know as soon as he starts to show signs of waking up."

"Why don't you just do it yourself?"

"Because I have other things I need to do and because I told you to do it!"

Ivy glared at Rogue's back as the auburn-haired mutant stalked into the bathroom. Rogue looked at her reflection in the mirror, noting almost absently the burning anger in her eyes.

He was downstairs, right at this very moment, and he was unconscious, defenceless. She could do anything she wanted to him. She could hit him, cut him, burn him, whip him, break him, touch him. She could do _anything_. And she wanted to. Oh, yes, she really wanted to. The memory of what he did to her, of what he made her do, made rage and hatred and shame well up inside her. She was usually pretty good at controlling her emotions, but she did have her limits, and he was one of them. The urge to hurt him, punish him, was so strong she wasn't sure she could resist it.

Someone knocked on the door and she jumped like she'd been shot. Swallowing her pulse, she opened it and frowned at Kar.

"What is it?" she asked, not caring that she sounded very rude.

"Michelle thought you might want to talk to me."

"I don't." She started to close the door again, but Kar shoved his foot in the gap and stopped her.

"Rogue, please, just talk to me."

"Fuck off, Kar."

"Dammit, Rogue, we can't afford for you to lose your head over this! I don't know what that bastard did to you, but it must have been bad, and I'm sorry, but now is not the time for vengeance. We need cool heads and clear thinking to interrogate him. If you don't think you can manage that, say so and we'll let Ivy handle it."

"You-!"

"Rogue! This is important! Do not make me fry your ass!"

Rogue blinked as Kar's eyes flashed purple, and realised that he was very, very serious. He knew she was losing control and he knew that he couldn't allow her to see Mitchell in that condition, and to do that he was willing to hurt her. That knowledge dampened enough of Rogue's anger to allow her to think rationally.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I can… I can do this. But I want you to be there as well. If I start to lose it, stop me." That statement, the one that said she knew she might be too weak to do this simple task, burned. She hated that she couldn't be the cool and rational leader she had been for so long. She hated that she might need to be controlled by others. She hated everything about this situation. And the man responsible for it all was down in the basement, unconscious and defenceless.


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Three people were in the basement: Mitchell, just starting to wake up and realise just what situation he was in, Michelle, as the living lie detector, and Kar, as Rogue's bodyguard. Or, perhaps more specifically, Mitchell's bodyguard.

Rogue took a deep breath and forced herself into calmness before descending into the basement. She would not lose control. She would not hurt her prisoner unnecessarily. She would question him coolly and efficiently. She would remain detached and focused. Yeah, right.

Rogue stared at Mitchell with dispassionate eyes, waiting patiently for him to regain full consciousness. It didn't take long, and he blinked blearily before raising his head and looking around. His eyes fell on Rogue and widened slightly.

"I have questions, Mitchell," Rogue said quietly, "And you are going to answer them. No lying, because Michelle over there will sense it and I will hurt you. Try to escape, and I will stop you and hurt you. Insult or threaten me or anyone in this room and I will hurt you. Mention our first meeting and I will REALLY hurt you. These are the terms of your imprisonment and they are non-negotiable. If you argue with any of these terms, just remember: we only need you alive and speaking. Everything else is gravy."

Mitchell glared at her, but couldn't quite hide the hint of fear in his eyes. "I'm not saying a fucking word."

"Oh, you really are. See, I'm pretty much a sociopath, okay? Courtesy of, well, pretty much you, and some other bad shit that I've seen. So, this is how it's gonna work. I ask, you answer. I ask and you don't answer, and you get hurt. And in case you're wondering how I'm going to hurt you, that's what we have these for." Smiling grimly, Rogue yanked the cover off a large tray next to the chair, revealing numerous medical instruments and other things. There was a sleek black paddle, a coiled whip with tiny metal barbs, a poker that would be heated up later, numerous knives and daggers, two guns, a stun-baton, and various vials filled with different drugs.

Rogue picked up one of the vials and held it lightly in her hands. "Now, we could just use this truth serum we've concocted in our nice little lab here, but it has some rather nasty side affects that could get in the way, namely it will make your tongue swell up so bad you won't be able to speak. So, first question, where is your base located?"

"Fuck you!"

Rogue backhanded him, and then knelt down in front of him. "I'm not in a good mood, Mitchell. I am very, very close to losing my temper and ripping you to shreds with my bare hands. So I suggest you co-operate."

"I'm not saying a word," he repeated quietly, glaring into her eyes. Rogue stood up.

"Kar, would you please help me untie him? I want him hung from the ceiling."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ten minutes later, Mitchell was dangling from the ceiling in his boxers. Rogue picked up a scalpel and drew it across his chest, not quite hard enough to draw blood.

"Now, I'm going to ask again: where is your base?"

"When I get free I am going to do to you what I did last time. I am going to-"

Rogue made one quick slice down his chest and he screamed as blood welled up and dribbled down his abdomen, gleaming cherry-read in the harsh fluorescent lighting.

"I warned you," Rogue said quietly. "One more word about that incident and I will do much worse. Now, where is your home base?"

"When I get free I am going to do to you disgusting freaks what should have been done much sooner. I am going to kill you all like dogs!"

"That was a threat, Colonel, and that's against the rules." Rogue made another slice, parallel to the first. "So, are you going to answer the question now?"

"Never!"

"Your decision," Rogue shrugged, and made another cut, this time horizontal and going through the other two, just above his nipples. He screamed again, jerking at the chains that held him. "Where is your base, Colonel?"

"You filthy little slut!"

Another slice, this time just above his belly button, making a grid of cuts. "Do you really want me to play noughts and crosses on your chest, Mitchell? Where is your base?"

Mitchell was panting, trying to think through the pain, but stubbornly refusing to break. "I-I am going to-to have you… beg me… again… and then I am… going to… aaahhh!"

Rogue had cut a deep cross in the upper right corner of the grid. "Hm, Kar, it's your turn. Where do you want to go?"

Kar swallowed, but answered in a steady voice, "Bottom left corner."

"Alright. Mitchell, where is your base?"

"You disgusting freak, you… shoulda been… drowned at… birth!"

Rogue cut a large circle in the bottom right corner, and listened to her victim scream. Some distant part of her mind thought absently that she should feel bad about torturing someone, but it was just a quiet whisper. She hadn't been lying when she said she was a sociopath. At sometime in the future, she might have nightmares about this incident, but they would be forgotten in the light of day, because it was necessary, and she would do it again if she had to.

"I think a different question is in order, just for variety. How many mutants do you have captured?"

"Not… enough."

Rogue cut a cross into the centre square. "Kar, your move."

"Um, middle left."

"Okay. Mitchell, how many mutants do you have captured?"

"I'm not… telling you… anything!"

Rogue shrugged and cut another circle into his chest. She noted that his chest was so covered in blood it was hard to tell where the cuts were, and grabbed a wet cloth from the tray to wipe at his chest. The cloth had been dipped in salt water, so Mitchell screamed again as the salt touched his wounds.

"How many mutants do you have captured?" she repeated in that deadly quiet voice, the Southern accent that Kar used to find attractive now making her words sound obscene.

Kar was having serious trouble keeping a blank face as he watched Rogue uncaringly cut into someone's skin, but knew that any sign of weakness would not help. Later, he would throw up and scream and curse, but for now, he had to just watch. He thought absently that he was becoming very… cold. He wasn't quite the sociopath that Rogue was, but this level of harsh violence didn't upset him as much as it used to. That was a very troubling thought.

Kar was snapped out of his musings as Rogue cut another cross into Mitchell's chest, in the middle bottom square. She asked for his move, and he told her middle right. She asked Mitchell the question again, got another insult in response, and cut another circle.

She asked again, got denied an answer, and cut a cross in the top middle, making it three in a row. Still smiling that grim smile, she drew the scalpel down his chest, running it through the three crosses.

Mitchell screamed, straining against the chains. Sweat beaded his forehead, and blood dripped onto the ground in a steady rhythm. His abdomen was a mask of red, shining brightly in the lights.

Rogue pressed the flat side of the scalpel against one of the crosses, coating it in blood, and then held it against his cheek.

"One more time, Mitchell, how many mutants do you have captured?"

A broken, sobbing sound escaped his throat, and Rogue knew that he had started to break. "Twenty-six."

Rogue glanced at Michelle, and the blonde nodded. Rogue didn't notice how she had one hand pressed to her stomach, or that her skin was unnaturally pale and her eyes too bright. She turned back to Mitchell, pleased to see him trembling in his bonds.

"Good boy. Now, shall we go back to our original question? Where is you base?"

"I won't… dammit, you can do what you want to me, but I won't tell you that."

"We'll see. Let's try an easier question. How are you preventing the mutants from escaping?"

"No…" The protest was weak and feeble, and he closed his eyes against the pain he knew was coming. He wasn't disappointed, and he screamed when he felt Rogue draw the scalpel slowly down his back.

"Try again, Colonel."

"…. We use… power restric… restrictors… on the cells…"

"Good boy. Do you torture the mutants?"

"… Yes."

"Do you rape them?"

She got no answer, which was answer enough, but she still drew a long cut down his back. "Do you rape them?"

"… Yes."

"You captured Jean Grey. She was supposed to be dead. Explain."

"No." This time the answer was firm and strong.

Rogue frowned when she saw that the bleeding from the cuts on his chest had already started to slow. He should not have been healing that fast.

"Michelle, is this git human?" she asked, not taking her eyes off Mitchell.

"Yes, but… something's different inside him. It's not the X-Gene, but he's done something to his body."

"Hm. Question for later. Back to Jean, I want all the details."

"No!"

Rogue put the bloody scalpel back on the tray and debated on what to use, before finally picking up the whip. She uncoiled it and let him see how the light glinted off the metal barbs before walking around to his back. She measured the distance, swung back, and then snapped the whip. The metal barbs dug into his skin, tearing at the flesh, and the whip cut the skin, leaving an angry red line behind. Mitchell screamed, hands clenching around the chains.

"Wrong answer. Tell me everything about Jean."

"No!"

Rogue whipped him twice more, not giving him a respite between the lashes. Small droplets of blood splashed against her skin from the metal barbs, but she didn't care or even notice. She wanted answers and she was going to get them, whatever she had to do.

"Tell me about Jean."

"Fuck… you."

Rogue lashed him three more times with the whip, ignoring his screams and whimpers, and then pressed close to his ruined back, putting her mouth next to his ear.

"Jean was my friend, you bastard," she whispered. "She was actually my best friend, and I saw what you did to her. You took away my entire _family_, dammit, and you took something from me, too. So I am going to hurt you, because I _really _want to. Answer my questions quickly, and the pain will be less. Piss me off, and I will really start to get creative. Now, one more time, tell me about Jean."

He whimpered again and told her how they had captured her, drugged her into unconsciousness. They had held her in a cell and told the world that she was dead, killing a nameless redhead for proof. They had thought she would be the one to bring about their dream, but had to work hard to control her. She was strong, and it was months before they were able to broke her. Even so, she killed two doctors and maimed seven, causing other minor injuries to just about everyone. She had screamed until the end that they would be stopped, that she knew the strongest, bravest X-Man was still out there, and that she would hunt them down and stop them. She had screamed that while Rogue might not save her personally, she would save every other mutant.

A tear rolled down Rogue's cheek, mingling with the blood, and she screamed in fury as she lashed at his back repeatedly with the whip, the barbs digging and clawing through his skin. By the time she was finished, small chunks of flesh were missing from his back, lying on the ground amidst a rapidly growing pool of blood.

She would have kept whipping him, anything to keep the pain and sorrow out of her mind, out of her heart, but Kar grabbed her wrist, tiny sparks of electricity jumping from his skin to hers.

"Cool it, Rogue!" he snapped, and she glared at him, ready to hurt him for stopping her torture, but then his eyes softened, and he brushed away the tear on her cheek. "You need to calm down to do this properly," he added quietly, and she let out a breath.

"Right. Sorry."

Kar nodded and moved back to where he had been standing. Rogue looked at Mitchell's back and decided to leave it alone for now. The man himself was still whimpering and sobbing, twisting futilely in his bonds.

"Have you captured any other X-Men?" Rogue asked in a voice that wasn't so much quiet as it was… empty.

"…. Yes."

Something twisted in Rogue's gut, something that wasn't fear or anger, but something else, or maybe a combination of both. "Who?"

"Ma… Magma."

Rogue felt bile rise in her throat at the thought of sweet, innocent Amara being tortured by those bastards, and her grip tightened on the whip, but she controlled herself with an effort.

"What have you done to her?"

"I… I won't…"

Rogue left the whip on the ground and picked up the black paddle. She hefted it, testing its weight, and then slapped his ravaged back with it, putting all her strength behind it. He screamed and thrashed again, and Rogue waited patiently for him to calm down.

"What have you done to her?"

"We… drugged… cut… sense dep… deprivation…"

"Has she broken?"

"…. Yes."

"How long have you had her?"

"A year."

"How long did it take you to break her?"

"Two… two weeks."

"Why haven't you released her?"

"She… Grey hated… seeing her hurt… we used her… to hurt Grey."

That earned him another slap with the paddle, and Rogue thought she should be proud that she restrained herself so much. Hurting Jean by torturing Amara… that was just plain sick. There was no excuse for that.

Rogue wasn't smiling grimly anymore, though that wasn't really a good thing. Her face was completely expressionless, unless you looked into her eyes. Her eyes were filled with a storm of emotion-rage, hatred, disgust, shame, horror, and many other things.

Kar glanced once into those terrifying eyes and shuddered before quickly looking away.

-----------------------

The Dark Roses tried to ignore the screams coming from the basement, tried to stop themselves imagining what was happening, but it didn't really work. They were gathered in the living room, sitting around in silence.

Alistor was hugging Jamie, who actually looked scared. The newest recruit looked very unsure, but also strangely satisfied. Envee looked scared and a little sick, and she was hugging her knees tightly to her chest, trying to hide the faint tremors running through her body. Selene looked a little sad and scared, but also kind of indifferent. She knew that if she was actually witnessing what was happening, she wouldn't be so calm, but as long as all she had to do was listen to screams, she was alright. Ivy was leaning against the wall, her eyes alight with a hungry fire, and she kept licking her lips. Sometimes, when the screaming intensified, her breath would hitch slightly, and she would seem almost trance-like.

It was almost half an hour later when the screaming finally stopped. They waited breathlessly for several minutes until Rogue, Michelle and Kar emerged from the basement. Blood was spattered all over Rogue's face and body, and there was a dark smudge along her cheek where she'd brushed away a tear.

Michelle ran up the stairs and a moment later they heard the sound of retching. Kar studied his feet intently as he walked up the stairs, oblivious to everyone else. Rogue hesitated in the doorway, glancing back at the dark basement. She had her answers, there was no more reason to hurt him, and yet… she wanted to. She could still remember what he had made her do, could still hear her own voice begging for mercy, could still feel that baton pressed against the back of her neck as she knelt before him like some lower being.

Rogue shook herself, and looked at the others, not knowing her scary her eyes were in their emptiness.

"He gave us almost all the answers we wanted, and now he's unconscious. Ivy, go guard him, and don't touch him. Call me when he starts to wake up." With that, she turned and walked calmly up the stairs.


	8. Chapter Eight

Notes: Yes, this is a short chapter, but it is also important, so please forgive me?

Chapter Eight

It was strange, but she didn't feel much of anything about torturing Mitchell. She had expected to feel horrified or pleased, but… she didn't. She wondered if this emotionless state would continue for the rest of her life. She hoped it didn't. They were a pain sometimes, but she valued her emotions, because they gave her strength, a reason for being. If she didn't have emotions, was she even human? Was a human being defined by its DNA, or its emotions? Researchers say that animals feel only a couple of the most basic emotions-fear, anger, pain. If a human being felt less than that, were they human?

And if she did start having emotions again, would she begin to feel something about what she had just done? What did it say about her if she didn't? A sociopath was defined as a person with a personality disorder marked by antisocial behaviour. That didn't exactly fit her, but what else could she call herself? A human who felt nothing was dead, because to feel was to live. But if she was dead, she wouldn't be breathing and thinking, her heart would not beat within her chest. Thus, she must be alive. But she didn't feel, which marked someone as alive. So, if she wasn't dead, but wasn't truly living either, what was she? And if she wasn't truly living, could she come alive again?

Something had broken within her, when she had first cut into Mitchell's body, some precious shard of her soul had shattered beyond repair. Could she live without that shard? Or would it mean her death to be without it? If you destroy parts of your soul, can you continue living? Can you continue feeling?

And if she didn't start feeling again, what would happen to her? To see the world as a grey, empty nothingness, or to see it as the bright, colourful world she had once known but not be a part of it, would be worse than death, it would be the harshest of tortures.

Emotions governed all her actions and thoughts. If she didn't have those emotions, would she still be able to do her job? Would she be able to do anything? You eat because you are hungry, but what if she never felt hungry again? You sleep because you are tired, but what if she never got tired? You fight because you are angry, but what if she couldn't get angry? Was she doomed to forever watch the world pass her by, unnoticed and uncared for like a ghost? Would she forever remain the distant spectator, unable to feel what it was to be human?

That was a scary thought, to be forever denied the world. The thought of remaining in the dark, cold world of nothing sent a shiver down her spine.

And then she realised it. She was scared by that thought. Fright was an emotion. She did have emotions, just not right at that instant. She was still human, just in a little funk right at that moment.

Rogue smiled.

------------------------

Kar was scared. He kept remembering the horrible screams that Rogue caused her helpless victim to scream. He could still see all that blood, shining sickly in the light, he could still see the way he trembled and thrashed in his bonds, eyes filled with pain and horror and fright.

It wasn't so much the memory of Mitchell's suffering that scared him, but his own actions. Or rather, his failure to act. He'd known what they were doing was wrong, that there were other ways of getting the information, but… he hadn't done anything. He'd just stood there and watched as Rogue cut into him, lashed at him with that horrific whip, pressed the burning poker against his skin, hit him with that paddle.

Fuck, he'd even helped! Well, not really, just told Rogue where to cut, and some distant part of his mind knew that she would have cut with or without his direction, but the rest of him hated him for it. How could he have just stood there and let it happen? Why hadn't he done something? That was what he had been there for, to stop Rogue getting out of control, and he'd only intervened _once!_ She'd been out of control so many times, cutting deeper than before, holding the poker against his skin for longer, but… he'd just watched.

Because some small part of him, a part he didn't want to admit existed, believed that Mitchell deserved what Rogue was doing to him. That small part of him knew what Mitchell had done to dozens of innocent mutants, what he would continue to do, and he'd believed that it was only fair that he got hurt like that. It wasn't just fair, it was justice.

What did that make him? Did it make him a monster or just practical? Was it a mark of someone new he was becoming? And did he really want to become that someone?

There were certain lines you weren't supposed to cross, certain things you weren't supposed to do. Was watching someone torture another human being one of them?

Kar sighed and buried his head in his pillow, trying to shut out the images burned in his mind. It didn't work, and he kept seeing blood painted on the back of his eyelids, creating gruesome games of noughts and crosses.

A harsh scream made Kar jump. He recognised the voice as Mitchell's, and wondered if Rogue was torturing him again. He shuddered and ran down the stairs, to join the others as they rushed to the basement.

It turned out Rogue wasn't torturing Mitchell. In fact, no one was even touching the man, but he was struggling in his chair and screaming as if he were still being tortured.

"What the hell is the matter with him?" Ivy asked, sounding just a tad unnerved.

"Something's pulling him," Michelle gasped, clutching at her chest as if her heart hurt. "Oh, God, make it stop."

If you discounted the screaming, there was no prelude to Mitchell disappearing. He was simply sitting in the chair screaming, and then you blinked, and he was gone. The ropes hung loosely around the back of the chair, and the handcuffs clattered to the bloodstained floor.


	9. Chapter Nine

This chapter is dedicated to angyl-devyl, for your absolutely wonderful reviews, especially the last. I got four gold stars! Yay! Anyway, enjoy and review!

Chapter Nine

Rogue blinked at the empty chair. The only evidence that Mitchell had been there was all the blood. Confusion quickly gave way to anger.

"Alright, where the bloody hell did he go?" she snapped, turning to Michelle, who was still gasping for breath.

"I don't… something pulled him… took him away… oh, God, it hurt. It felt… like all my insides were being… ripped apart… by claws. Oh, ouch. Ooof." She sat down heavily on the bottom step, head between her knees.

"They must have a teleporter," Kar said. "They got some poor mutant to teleport him. I've heard it hurts like hell."

"It does," Michelle muttered, taking deep, even breaths.

"You gonna be okay?" Alistor asked in concern, kneeling down in front of her, effectively putting his back to all the blood.

"Yeah, yeah… just gimme a minute. Ugh, being an empath sucks sometimes."

"What answers did we get out of him before he went bye-bye?" Ivy asked, ignoring Michelle's pain.

Rogue sighed and said, "How many mutants, what they've been doing, how they've been controlling them, how many members of their little faction, and a few names that could prove useful. It's not much, but… it should help."

"If you give me the names, Selene and I can run some searches," Jamie said, speaking for the first time since descending into the basement and seeing the blood.

"Yeah, sure. Michelle, get upstairs and rest."

"I don't think my legs will work right this moment."

"Easily solved," Alistor said with a grin, and scooped her petite form up, cradling her against his chest.

"Ooh, the muscles," Selene muttered to Kar, who snorted.

"See something you like?" he asked, just as quietly.

"Oh yeah."

Kar smiled wanly and trudged upstairs. Rogue frowned and followed him, touching his shoulder to make him stop.

"Hey, Kar?"

"Yeah, bosslady?"

Rogue hesitated. What could she say? She couldn't apologise because she wasn't sorry, but she hated seeing Kar so depressed. "I'm sorry you had to do that," she eventually said, and he smiled bitterly.

"Yeah, me too."

"If… if you want to leave… I won't stop you."

Kar smiled again, though not like he thought it was funny. "I'm a Dark Rose, bosslady, whether I like it or not. I ain't gonna desert."

"If it helps, I don't think we'll have to do that again."

"But we still did it, Rogue. I crossed a line and I can't go back, and… I'm scared of what's ahead."

"I never meant to turn you into a killer, Kar," Rogue whispered. "Please believe that."

"Ya didn't mean to, Rogue, but you are. Slowly but surely, you're turning me into… into someone I don't want to be."

Rogue frowned and sadly watched him leave. She had to wonder if she was truly doing the right thing. She had taken a bunch of semi-innocent albeit powerful mutants and turned them into… warriors. Not quite killers, but close. She had turned them into hard, cold-hearted people, all because she needed them. Sometimes she wondered if that made her a monster more than the killing.

"I hate my life," she whispered, shaking her head. Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh, she walked up to her room intent in writing in her journal.

Rogue had barely opened the journal before someone knocked on her door, and Jamie entered without waiting for permission. She looked slightly flustered, which meant she was highly agitated.

"Rogue, we have a serious problem," she said urgently, and Rogue frowned, gesturing for her to continue. "Some mutant teleported Mitchell from here and that means they know where we are. They could attack any minute!"

"_Shit!_ Tell everyone to grab their gear and get out of here!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Cursing loudly, Rogue grabbed her duffel bag from under the bed and threw her clothes in it, adding her laptop, journal, weapons, and toiletries from the bathroom. She could hear the others rushing to pack, as well, but ignored them as she rushed back to her room. She threw the faded rug out of the way and used a knife to pry up one of the floorboards, revealing a nice hidey-hole that contained an old and battered cardboard box. Rogue grabbed the box and quickly checked its contents before shoving it in her bag and running downstairs.

Alistor looked confused, but Selene just snapped at him to get his things and hurry, dammit! Jamie looked more like her usual calm self than she had five minutes ago, her large backpack resting at her feet. Kar still looked a little troubled, and wouldn't meet Rogue's eyes. Ivy looked like she was starting to get pissed off, and kept flexing her hands.

"We shouldn't have brought him here," she said, the faintest edge of a growl in her voice.

"Well we did and now we have to leave," Rogue snapped. "We got information, and it's not like it's the first time we've had to move. Come on, everyone, let's amscray before a SWAT team shows up."

--------------------------

Dr. Cathryn Tear was beautiful in a very unusual way. Her auburn hair had two white streaks, not completely unusual, but her eyes were definitely weird. They looked very much like a cat's eyes, with a thin slit for a pupil, and a deep blue iris with a thin purple band around the edges. She wore blue contacts to cover these eyes, as they drew the unwanted kind of attention. Because she was at her club, The Mutant Pitt, she was dressed in tight black leather trousers and knee-length boots. The top was a leather vest with long dark red sleeves to hide the scars criss-crossing her skin. Her makeup was dark and sultry, but didn't match the serious expression on her face as she listened to Rogue's story.

"Well, life with you guys is never boring," she quipped, absently tapping her fingernails against the desk. "Alright, I can get you a house in about two days, but until then you'll have to stay at a hotel. I'll send a couple of people over to clean the old place tomorrow morning, just in case."

"Hotels are gonna be a problem," Selene said from where she was leaning against the wall. "I mean, we're kind of a… motley group."

"Split up," Cathryn said with a shrug. "Though I would suggest not leaving the new guy alone."

"Sure, I'll take him to some run-down motel."

"No."

"Huh?"

"These guys are assuming you guys are poor or not-well funded, right? If anything, they'll be watching the run-down motels, and not the high-class hotels. Take him to some place expensive. Just use my credit card."

"Thanks, Cathryn."

"No problem. You want to stay for some drinks? Silver Scream are playing in a few moments."

Rogue smiled and said, "I think Jamie's a little young for this scene, but thanks for the offer, and we really should get to work on the names Mitchell gave us."

"You work too hard."

Rogue just shrugged and said, "Gotta stop them."

"True. Let me know how things are going, alright?"

"Sure. Thanks again."

Cathryn nodded and watched as the Dark Roses left her office. She waited a moment, pondering the haunted shadow she'd seen in Kar's eyes, and then picked up the phone, dialling quickly.

"Hello, Michael? Yes, it's me. I need you to take Jason and clean the house tomorrow morning, or tonight if you're up for it. Alright, thanks. Bye." She hung up again and adjusted the sleeves of her top, pulling them down slightly, and stood up. After glancing at herself in the full-length mirror and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she opened the door and walked out into the club.


	10. Chapter Ten

This is dedicated to lethalperception7 because I read your profile, including the little note at the end and I am never one to ignore hints. Anyway, enjoy and review!

Chapter Ten

Jamie frowned at her screen, fingers flying over the keys as she hacked her way past another firewall. She'd already searched most of the military databases and come up empty. Selene was still working on the last one, but Jamie doubted she'd find anything. Right now, she was forcing her way into the NSA's database, and it was not easy. She'd only done it once before, to prove that she could, but they had put up new firewalls since then, and it had taken her over twenty minutes to get to the halfway mark.

Biting her lip, Jamie came up against another firewall and prodded gently for a way past. She found it easily enough, but getting through it undetected wasn't so easy. She had to change three strings of code and set up a five-second delay in the sensors that would allow her to patch up her entry once she was through.

Absently taking a sip of her orange juice, Jamie advanced and examined the next firewall. This one was new and tough. She couldn't find a single way past it that would let her remain undetected. After searching for nearly five minutes, she sat back and glared at her screen.

She was nearly there, just a few more firewalls, why did she have to get stopped now? Dammit, she had done this once before! But no, they had to go and get better security. Stupid gits.

Jamie blew out a breath and searched around the small diskettes scattered on the desk. She finally found the right one and inserted it into the drive, waiting a moment for it to load. It was a nasty little virus, termed a parasite-bomb, that would destroy the firewalls and then start eating away at the system. She would have a maximum of five minutes to find and download the files she needed before the NSA's computer technicians stopped the virus and discovered her presence. If she got out before that happened, they would never know she was there, at least not for a few weeks. It was effective, but crude, and she hated using it.

Someone knocked on the door and she sighed. "I'm busy," she called, finger poised over the enter button.

"It's lunchtime, Jay, we're heading out to meet the others," Selene replied through the door.

"I'm busy, Selene. Just bring me back a sandwich."

"Alright, fine, I'll be back in an hour."

Jamie nodded to herself and waited a moment to make sure she wouldn't be interrupted again. Then she hit the enter key and began to work.

She barely saw the words showing on the screen as she called up file after file, her brain automatically dismissing them as incorrect. She just needed to find one file that was right, and then download all files associated with it. After two minutes and eleven seconds, she found the name of a Captain Thomas Richards, one of the people Mitchell had named, and saw that he had twenty-seven files associated with his.

Very aware that her time was running out, Jamie started to download the files and watched anxiously as the blue bar slowly made its way across the screen. Hacking into other computers was just about the only thing that gave Jamie an adrenaline rush, something that could make her skin tingle and pulse speed up. She loved the thrill, the danger of being caught, because her powers of time didn't affect cyberspace. If she wasn't fast enough, she couldn't do anything to stop being caught.

The download stopped and Jamie quickly exited the database, smiling and letting out her breath when she saw that she had escaped with seven seconds to spare. Then she reached for her cell phone, dialling Rogue's number with one hand while pulling up Captain Thomas Richards' file.

"I got the files, twenty-eight in total, using Captain Thomas Richards' as the primary. No, it's alright, you finish lunch. I have to read the files first before I make any sort of report. Alright, bye."

Jamie hung up and took a long gulp of her orange juice. The cold, hard eyes of Captain Thomas Richards stared at her and shivered. This was a bad man, she could tell that instantly. There was just something in his eyes that made her tremble inside. He had done some very bad things in his lifetime, she knew. He had the same kind of eyes that Rogue had, only different, because Rogue's eyes were scary for a good reason. His eyes were just scary because they were. She didn't like this man, and didn't want to read about him.

Shaking her head at her own foolishness, Jamie forced herself to read his file thoroughly. What she learned firmed her resolve to find this wicked man and kill him.

Normally, Jamie didn't approve of killing, not liking to interfere with the natural order of things, but sometimes she realised that it was a necessary evil. This was one of those times.

She had been hoping that killing Mitchell and the upper echelon of the Agency would allow them to spare the lives of the lower workers, but she realised now that that was not a realistic view. They would have to pass judgement on each and every member of the Agency. Perhaps some would live, but she doubted it.

She had been foolish to hope that she could reduce the amount of blood they would shed. There could be no innocents if they were working for the Agency. And the guilty had to be killed. They couldn't be trusted with life.

She hated that simple yet sad fact. Life was so precious, so fleeting and wonderful, yet there were some people out there that just did not understand how sacred life was, they had to destroy and corrupt it, and for that, they themselves could not live.

There was a time when she thought she would never condone killing. People deserved the chance to live, to see the world for the miraculous thing it was, to breathe in the timeless wonder of nature, but when she had become a Dark Rose, Rogue had shown her that some people just couldn't do that. Some people didn't see all the wonder and beauty, they just saw the dark, ugly things that man had created. And those people were corrupted by that sight, they were twisted and torn until they became part of the ugly dark. She wished that they could just ignore the dark, ignore the plague that was mankind, and just look at the natural wonder of the world. Why couldn't they just take a walk through a forest or bathe in a lake? Why couldn't they feel the ancient power of an oak tree or the ever-changing freedom of a river?

Jamie sighed and blinked the computer screen back into focus. Captain Richards stared back at her and she quickly lowered the lid of her laptop, looking at the wall. One file and she was already getting depressed. That was not a good sign.

Deciding that she needed to get a little more grounded before looking at the other files, Jamie grabbed her jacket and left the hotel room, intent on finding some nice piece of nature to enjoy.

She had just stepped out onto the street when she heard someone calling her name. Turning, she saw Envee jogging towards her and frowned slightly.

"Something wrong?" she asked when the other girl reached her.

Envee waved a hand dismissivly, still grinning. "Nah, I just wanted to chat to ya."

"Oh. Why?"

Envee raised her eyebrows and spoke in a tone that clearly said 'of course'. "Because we haven't really chatted in a while."

"I don't think we've ever chatted."

"Well, yeah, I mean, precisely, and I think we should. I mean, we work and fight together, but I don't really know all that much about you, and that just isn't right. Wanna go to a nice little café and have lunch?"

Jamie's frown deepened at the request. What she really wanted was some time by herself, but perhaps spending time with Envee would be nice. So she nodded and let Envee lead her to a small café she knew. They ordered their food and waited for the waitress to go before speaking.

"You look kinda down," Envee said, "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Come on, kid, ya can talk to me."

"What's the point? It will just make you depressed and probably confused. As a friend, I should not try to make you depressed. So I will not tell you."

Envee blinked and thought about that for a moment. Then she said, "Maybe I can help. Talking about whatever's bugging you might make it a little bit better."

"You can't, it won't."

Envee let out a frustrated breath and welcomed the pause as the waitress gave them their drinks. Stirring some sugar into her coffee, she studied the serious young girl before her and tried to decide what to do. Michelle had told her that Jamie needed to talk to someone, but getting her to open up was not easy.

"I had a nightmare last night," she finally said in a quiet voice, and Jamie frowned at her. "I was… running through a maze, and something was chasing me. I knew that if I could just find the exit, I would be alright, but… I was so lost, and the thing was just so fast… I kept running, faster and faster, but it caught me. I was terrified, fear stabbing through my gut. I've never been so scared. Then I woke up. What do you think it means?"

She actually wasn't lying, she had had that nightmare last night, but she already knew what it meant. She just wanted to get Jamie to talk.

Jamie was an analyst. She took whatever problem laid out before her and dissected it into parts, working through each section logically until the solution was evident. This was no exception. She quickly had the dream figured out.

"The creature chasing you were your fears and dark emotions involving the situation with Mitchell, and possibly underlying problems that I am not aware of. The maze suggests that you are searching for a path, searching for answers, but you are lost and confused. You are scared of the creature, and thus of your emotions, and probably what changes they will cause in you if you give them the recognition your subconscious wants you to. Once you figure out what your emotions are involving the situation with Mitchell and embrace them, the nightmares should fade."

Envee nodded, not really hearing what Jamie had said. "Do you have nightmares?" she asked, and Jamie smiled slightly.

"I don't sleep."

"Oh. Right. I forgot. Must be nice, to not have to wake up screaming."

"I guess."

Seeing that she was still getting nowhere, Envee sipped her coffee and tried to figure out what other tactics she could use. "Jamie, do you ever miss your parents?"

Jamie blinked in surprised, and then thought about the question for a moment. She'd never really thought about it before, just accepted that her parents were gone and she was a Dark Rose now. Eventually she answered quietly, "No."

"Why not?"

"Because… they hated me. If they ever found out that I was a mutant, they would have hated me and been disgusted. They would have disowned me. They were narrow-minded bigots who are my family only through genetics." She paused and then, for some reason she didn't quite understand, asked, "Do you miss your parents?"

Envee hesitated, thinking back to when she had lived with her parents, and her brother. After a moment she shook her head and smiled. "No, I don't, but I do miss my brother, Jaysin. He was great, always there for me, helped me learn how to defend myself. I do miss him, but I think, if he could see me now, see what I've become… he'd be proud."

"I'm sure he would be."

Their food arrived, and Envee picked at her salad, letting the silence grow until she figured out what next to say. She was usually pretty good at reading people (she had to be so that she could talk her way out of difficult situations) but Jamie had always been a mystery to her. The girl was just so cool and efficient, never showing anything to hint at her emotions and thoughts.

There was a light in her eyes that said she saw the world differently to everyone else, and Envee realised suddenly that she did. Jamie was timeless and knew it. She looked at the world and knew that everything she saw would eventually wither and die, turn to ashes and blow away in the wind. But she wouldn't. She would remain.

"You must be very lonely," Envee said quietly, not really intending to speak. Jamie looked at her sharply, and Envee blushed, stabbing at a piece of lettuce. "I mean… you're immortal, and you have to look at things, people, and know that… they're going to die, and that you won't."

"I can die. If I receive a serious enough wound I will not be able to heal it quickly enough to save myself. Or I could be unconscious. Or I could have my powers stripped. Or I could simply choose to die. I am not immortal."

Envee frowned again, absently eating a piece of cucumber. Jamie was completely refusing to open up. How was she supposed to get a brick wall to vent her emotions? Okay, if she got really desperate, she could use that drug Cathryn had given them that lowered someone's inhibitions and gave them one hell of a pleasure buzz, but they were supposed to use that on enemies, not friends. Besides, Rogue would yell at her.

When she was halfway through her salad and Jamie had nearly finished her sandwich, Envee decided to just be blunt, not an unusual course of action for her.

"Okay, Jamie, I am getting annoyed."

"Excuse me?"

"I am trying to get you to open up a little, and you aren't co-operating. Michelle thinks that if you don't get some things off your chest you're gonna go nuts, and I volunteered to be your Agony Aunt. So spill."

Jamie blinked at her and then looked down at her plate, trying to decide whether or not she should just walk away. She wasn't very comfortable with talking about her emotions, mainly because knowledge was power. She didn't want to give anyone, even a friend, a tool that could be used against her.

With just a little touch of regret she said, "I'm fine, Envee. Thank you for your concern."

Envee let out an irritated huff of air and resisted the urge to shake the younger girl and/or bang her head on the table. She settled for taking a large gulp of her coffee (which just happened to be a large Espresso with three sugars) and giving Jamie a mild glare.

"Jamie, would you please stop trying to be so… so… I don't even know what the hell you're being, but it's annoying! Look, I'm your friend, and you don't seem to appreciate that fact. I have saved your life a grand total of three times and you have saved mine eight. You have healed more wounds than I care to count. You are my friend and I want to hear what's troubling you."

"Nothing is troubling me."

Envee shrugged and said, "Maybe not troubling, but Michelle says you need to talk, and have you ever known her to be wrong?"

Jamie frowned yet again and stood up. "I have some files to read, thank you for lunch."

Envee watched Jamie walk away and muttered a string of curses, angrily admitting that she had just completely failed. Then she sighed and rested her chin on her palm, staring at the people walking past the café. Michelle had said that it was very important that Jamie talk to someone, but she just didn't know if she could get the girl to open up. She was usually pretty good at getting people to talk to her, but how could she manipulate someone like Jamie? In order to manipulate people she needed to be able to 'read' them, using their body language, words, and vocal inflections, but Jamie was a complete enigma.

Her cell phone rang and she answered it quickly, glancing at the screen and seeing that it was Michelle.

"Don't worry, just keep trying," Michelle's voice said, and Envee sighed.

"You sure this is important?"

"Yes. And hey, you love a challenge, right?"

Envee grinned at that and hung up. She finished her salad and her coffee, paid the bill, and walked back to the hotel.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Rogue fingered the soft edges of the box, brushing her fingertips against its cool smoothness. It was battered and dirty, stained with flecks of mud, blood and tears, but to her it was made of gold. It contained the thing most precious to her: her memories.

Biting her lip, Rogue carefully removed the lid and looked at the contents. It mostly contained pictures, dozens of photos showing various people, but among the pictures were other things: a ticket stub from when Professor X had taken them to see Macbeth, a few dried petals from the red rose Scott had given her for Valentines Day, and some dried petals from the white rose Remy had given her, a small teddy bear figurine Kurt had given her for her birthday, a bracelet of red, black and white beads that Kitty had made for her, a small spike Evan had used to pin her posters to her bedroom wall, a silver ring Jean had given her for Christmas, and a dirty page from a book of poems that Jubilee had given her for Christmas; the rest of the book was long-gone, destroyed in a fight like most of her possessions.

Rogue picked up one of the photos and smiled sadly at the picture. It showed all the girls, the X-Women as Jubilee called them, covered in flour, sugar, cocoa powder and other ingredients, laughing as they tried in vain to bake something that mildly resembled triple-chocolate cake.

Rogue sighed and trailed her fingers along the glossy surface of the photo. She missed them so much. They had been her friends and her family. They had given her support and help and comfort. Leaving them, knowing that they were going to be killed for their cause, had been the hardest thing she'd had to do.

She'd had to leave at night, when the fighting was most intense so no one would notice her, and she hated that she'd had to leave a battle in which her friends were fighting. She remembered how desperately she'd wanted to go and help them….

------------------

Screams and war cries filled the night air, mingled with the sound of machine guns and powers. Blood splattered against the grass, dark red and rich green mixing together like Christmas decorations. The moon and stars hid behind thick clouds as if too scared to witness the ferocious fight bellow.

She crouched on the hill, watching the massacre, and fought against the desire, the need, to help her friends, to fight with them, to protect them. She saw the bright red flash of Scott's power and she wondered if he was in danger. That was a stupid thought because they were all in danger, but she wondered if he was in extra danger, as in the 'about to get killed if a miracle didn't happen' kind of danger.

Then she saw two indistinct shapes fly through the air, thudding into the ground and staying there. It had to have been Jean; the redhead psychic rarely left Scott's side in a battle.

A loud barking sounded amidst the screams and gunshots, followed by a fierce growl and a pained yelp. The only animal mutant in the area was Rahne, and Rogue held her breath, praying that someone had noticed whatever had happened and had alerted a medic.

She knew she should leave, that the longer she lingered, the more the chance of discovery increased, but she just couldn't leave her friends, not now. They needed her, needed her strength and her skill, needed her powers and her weapons.

She fingered the butt of her gun, a Browning Hi-Power. Surely no one would notice if someone started shooting from the hill. She could fire a few shots, take out a few of the men, and then flee, the comfort of knowledge that she had helped relieving some of her guilt.

__

Go now, Rogue, a quiet but firm voice in her head said. _You must leave before you are discovered. You must leave NOW_.

__

I cannot leave my friends in danger! She cried in a mixture of sorrow and anger and frustration.

__

You can and you must. You have said your goodbyes and you must go. Go to Dr. Tear, she will help you, she will hide you. Please, Rogue.

With tears streaming down her face, Rogue nodded and picked up her duffel bag. She looked down at the battle, wishing there was more light so she could see her friends, and as if the Gods had heard her, a cloud slid aside and moonlight washed over the battle.

Her breath hitching in her throat, Rogue scanned the bloody scene and picked out her friends. Jean was there, maintaining a protective bubble around Cyclops and Spyke as they killed several men. Nightcrawler appeared briefly to teleport a wounded Wolfasbane away from the fight. Shadowcat ran into a beefy man and emerged out of his back, her bloody hand clutching at his heart. She threw it into the face of another man and then dived to the side to avoid a bullet. Wolverine snarled as he buried his claws in the chest of a broad-shouldered woman, throwing her at someone else. Storm threw a lightning bolt at someone, but then screamed as someone else shot her in her already-wounded shoulder. Wolverine shouted at her, fighting his way to her, and Rogue smiled sadly as he saw him protect his fiancé with a fierce determination.

"Goodbye," Rogue whispered, and then turned her back on the fight, on her friends, and ran away.

She fled, but vowed that she would return, and she would get her revenge….

--------------------

A tear rolled down her cheek as she remembered running to Cathryn, asking to be hidden away from the world until the Wars were over. Every aspect of her life had changed that night. Cathryn had given her a new name and a new identity, hiding her in plain sight as a street bum in New York, giving her a DNA-masker to hide her mutant DNA from any scans.

She had lived on the streets for months, her clothes torn and dirty, her skin and hair covered in dirt, shuffling along the streets and mumbling to herself, all the while keeping an eye on the news. She had to know just when to start her revenge.

That day came when she saw Scott's televised execution. She had known it was coming for days, they had advertised it greatly ('Watch the last of the dangerous terrorist mutant group known as the X-Men put to justice live!) and had been torn as to whether or not she should watch it. She knew it would scar her, the image of his death burned permanently into her mind, but in the end she just had to watch. She couldn't, she wouldn't, turn her back on him again. She would watch and she would get revenge.

Sniffing, Rogue wiped away the tear and put the photo back in the box, carefully replacing the lid. She carefully put the box under the bed and stood up, wiping away the tear and tucking her hair behind her ear.

Someone knocked on the door and she checked her appearance in the mirror before answering it, frowning at Selene.

"Me and Alistor are gonna go to the club, okay?" she asked, and Rogue realised that darkness had fallen while she had been lost in her memories.

Selene was wearing a pair of tight dark blue jeans and a black corset-style top that emphasised her cleavage and her slim waist. Her shoes were a pair of strappy high-heeled sandals that added two inches to her height. Her dark brown hair had been pulled back into an elegant French plait and she had used just the right amount of eye makeup to draw attention to her sparkling green eyes.

"You look good," Rogue muttered. "Have fun."

"We will. Ya wanna come with?"

"No, I've got work to do."

If Selene doubted this, she didn't show it, she just nodded and walked away.

Rogue closed the door and leant against it, memories pushing insistently at her psyche. She shook her head and booted up her laptop, but couldn't focus on the screen, her thoughts always going back to the box. She sighed and gave in, leaning over to get it from under the bed.

Sighing again, she reached into the box and picked up a few of the white rose petals, gently rubbing them between her fingertips. She missed Remy. He had always been there for her, in his own weird way, always there with a wicked smile and an equally wicked comment. He'd always been there to make her smile, always helped her see that life wasn't all bad. In his own way, he had been family to her, just as much as Jean or Scott or Kurt.

And when she needed comfort and support more than ever, it had been he who gave it to her….

------------------

War. I had never fully appreciated just how terrifying one little word could be. So many things were associated with that one little word-blood, pain, death, sorrow, tears, suffering, destruction.

Would I survive this war that I knew was coming? Would my friends? My family? Or would we all be killed, destroyed, crushed beneath the heels of oppression and hate? Would the flames of war consume us until we were nothing but bloodstained ashes?

I sighed and studied my gloved hands. There was so much potential in my body, the ability to cause so much pain and death to so many people lying just beneath the surface of my, waiting patiently to be released by a single touch. The Professor always called my mutancy a gift, but it wasn't a gift, it was a curse. Anyone I touched, I hurt. I dragged their strength, their energy, their very life-force out of their bodies and took it into mine. And if I held on long enough, I would kill them. How could anything that terrible be called a gift?

But now it was. Now, my friends were looking at me differently, because I had the potential to be the strongest of the X-Men. That title had always been held by Scott, but now I could take it from him, because now, I didn't have to restrain myself.

But I didn't want to. I didn't want to fight in a war and kill loads of people and watch my friends do the same. I'm not a coward, I actually consider myself quite brave and courageous, but I just didn't want to see my friends get hurt.

Why did we even have to fight? We had been fighting for years to protect mutants from the hatred of normal humans. Why did we have to continue fighting? Were we truly expected to give our lives for our cause?

"You look troubled, cher," a familiar voice said, and I sighed as Remy sat down next to me.

"I'm not in the mood to play games with you, Remy," I growled, but he just smiled at me in that infuriating way he has, like he knows all my deepest darkest secrets and is amused by them.

"Who said I wanted to play games? What's worrying you, ma petite fleur?"

"Nothing I would tell to you." I glared at him but he didn't go away, and after a while I sighed again and just gave in.

"War's coming," I said quietly, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Oui."

I stared at him, not comprehending how he could be so casual about something so horrific and devastating? Did he not understand that we might all die? That we might have to watch our friends and family die? Did he not understand that our lives were going to change forever? That we would never be the same?

"Look, cher, this is what I think: we are mutants, oui? We have abilities and skills that set us apart from others. We are special, and some people can't understand or accept that. They want to hurt us for something that we had no control over. So, we'll kill them, not because we want to, but because we have to. We'll kill them so that they don't kill us and the ones we love. And when all the killing is over with, people will be safe."

What he said made sense, and I really wanted to believe him, but… I couldn't. I just didn't want to kill. For all my talk and actions, for all my threats and insults, I wasn't a killer, and I didn't want to be.

"Do you really want to leave your friends to get hurt, cher?" he asked softly, and I sighed.

No, I didn't. I wouldn't and I couldn't. If my friends were in danger, then I would protect them. I would kill for them.

I don't know why, but all of a sudden, I needed, as lame as it sounds, a hug. I needed someone to hold me and comfort me, to tell me everything would be alright, that I wasn't alone. I needed that so desperately.

"It's alright to need, cher," Remy said in that silky voice he had, and I looked at him with tears in my eyes.

"I'm scared, Remy," I whispered, hating that I was actually confessing that, and to him of all people.

"I know."

He opened his arms, and I fell into them, curling against his warm, muscled body and holding tight. He held me as tightly as I clung to him, surrounding me with his warmth and his strength. He never said a word, and neither did I, because we didn't need words.

I could feel his heart beating in his chest, a steady, soothing beat, and I focused on the rhythm, letting it calm my own pounding heart.

War was coming, I could feel it in my trembling body, and I would face it, for my family. I would protect them with my cursed gift, because I loved them. I would fight for them, die for them, kill for them….

------------------

Salty tears splashed onto Rogue's cheeks and she choked back a sob. Her body trembled just like it had that night, but this time, no one was there to hold her and comfort her, no one was there to soothe and calm her. No one was there. And they never would be.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Selene sipped at what little remained of her drink and smiled at Alistor, memorising how the flickering candlelight played on his bronzed skin.

"This was nice," he said, and her smile widened.

"Yeah, it was. They serve the best food, and the discount is nice, too."

"Discount?"

Selene's smile turned into a mischievous grin and she leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice in a conspiratorial manner. "It's called free. Chal likes to be nice to us Dark Roses."

"Chal?"

"Chalice, Cathryn's codename."

A waiter appeared at her elbow and asked if they would like desert. Selene frowned, debating the question. They did serve a scrumptious strawberry cheesecake, and she was sorely tempted to treat herself, but she hadn't had a really healthy dinner, so it was with a twinge of regret that she declined. She grinned and stood up, holding her hand out to Alistor.

"Come on, time for the second half of this date!"

Alistor blinked at her, one eyebrow raised. "Date?" he repeated quietly, and Selene hesitated. Her brain did a minor short-circuit where her main coherent thought was Oops, but then the small fraction of her brain that was still functioning kicked the rest of her brain in the metaphorical ass and she smiled shyly.

"Well… yeah, I mean, we're a guy and a girl at a swanky restaurant/great night-club, I'm all dressed up and hopefully sexy, and you're all dressed up and looking handsome, and those are pretty much the required ingredients for a date."

Alistor thought about that for a moment and then smiled, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Selene breathed a mental sigh of relief and took his hand, pulling him to his feet. They walked out of the restaurant and into the foyer. Two well-dressed bouncer-type people stood in front of two curtains made of dark red velvet, and they nodded politely to Selene as she passed them with Alistor.

The room was dark, flashing lights briefly illuminating the writhing bodies of the dancers as they twisted and turned to the pounding music. Other people were grouped around the large square bar in the centre of the room. It was made of solid wood and gleamed dully in the flashing lights. There were various tables and stools situated around the large room, as well as sofas with low tables. The stage took up most of the back wall, and a live band was playing from it, the song and the instruments amplified through an impressive set of speakers to drown out all other noise. It was a wild place of freedom, a comforting den of anonymity. You could be anyone here, forget your real self and indulge in dark fantasies. Selene loved it, because for just a few short hours, she wasn't a Dark Rose, she didn't have worries and concerns, there was just her and the music. And Alistor. Couldn't forget about him.

Laughing, Selene dragged Alistor onto the dance floor and began dancing, swaying her hips and waving her arms, twisting her slim body in time to the beat. She loved dancing, it was like exercise but not, plus it let her show off her slender body without embarrassment.

Lost in the heat of the dance, Selene was only vaguely aware of the other people surrounding them, not really noticing the gaze of many of the male dancers. She was, however, aware of Alistor's gaze, and fought not to show that she had noticed. He was dancing, too, slightly less energetically than her but still dancing, and his eyes were fixed firmly on her, drinking in the sight of her beautiful body as it moved to the music.

They danced for a short eternity, time losing all meaning in the safe confines of the club. Sweat beaded their skin, their breath burned in their lungs, their muscles started to ache, and yet they didn't stop, wouldn't stop. The music flooded over them, through them, sweeping them up into a world of wicked impulses and sweet temptation.

The music changed from a fast-beat song to more of a dark, intimate song, though that could have just been Selene's imagination. Whatever, she took the opportunity to move a little closer to Alistor, invading his personal space in a very serious way. He grinned at her as she began to bump her body against his whenever she could manage it.

The back wall behind the stage exploded inwards, showering the band and dancers with bits of rubble. Screams and confused shouting erupted, the wild dancing morphing into panicked fleeing. A small figure stood in the large hole that had previously been a wall, watching the confusion with a manic grin. Then they cupped their hands together and something began to glow, pulsating between their fingers.

Selene blinked at the figure, her mind not able to process the new situation for a moment. Then her training kicked in and she raised a hand, summoning a throwing star made of shining light. She threw it blindly, not taking the time to aim, and was pleased to see that it hit the person in the shoulder.

"Get the wounded out of here!" she snapped to Alistor, gesturing to the few people trapped under rubble. He nodded and ran to the closest, letting his gleaming black armour cover his skin as he began to push away the rubble.

Paradox forgot about him and the wounded, trusting him to take care of them. She darted forward, bringing her hands together to grip a blazing sword. The mutant was still stunned from the flying star, but wouldn't be for long.

She was young, barely in her teens, with mousy brown hair that tangled around her face in a disorganised mess. Her pain-filled eyes were a very ordinary chocolate brown. Her body wasn't too thin and wasn't too fat, no tattoos or scars that Paradox could see. She looked completely normal, except for the rage and hatred contorting her features.

Paradox reversed her grip on the sword for an overhead strike and raised her arms. Unfortunately, this left her open to attack, something she had thought the mutant was too weak to do. She was wrong.

The girl gestured at her with her left hand and a small ball of light hit her in the chest. It felt like a small, burning brick had hit her, and she bit down on a scream as she tumbled backwards, barely keeping hold of her sword.

She heard someone shout her name, probably Onix, but ignored him, focusing on just trying to breathe. God, it hurt. She summoned the energy to raise her head and found that there was a frayed hole in her corset, revealing the lacy strapless bra she was wearing underneath. What she could see of her skin was already starting to darken and she knew that if Jamie didn't heal her, she'd have one hell of a bruise. Jamie… backup, she needed backup. She needed her friends. Where were they?

The girl was standing over her, hands cupped as she began to summon that light again, her eyes fixed hungrily on Paradox. Tiny sparks of light danced around her hands, shimmering from white to silver to bronze to gold to white. Paradox's throwing star was still stuck in her shoulder.

Paradox watched her, willing her body to get up, to move, to save herself. But she couldn't. She was still just trying to breathe. It was only with an absent thought that she realised she must have at least a couple of broken ribs. Her lungs burned painfully, her breath coming in short gasps. She must have punctured a lung, and if she hadn't she would if she moved.

A ball of sizzling white energy arced over Paradox and crashed into the mutant, sending her flying through the hole behind her. Paradox frowned and twisted her head to look at Onix, who still had one hand outstretched, the same white light swirling around his armour-encased body. He was kneeling, half-supporting a blonde female who had her legs half-buried under debris.

There are a lot of energy-powers here tonight, Paradox thought dazedly, and then blinked at the thought. Damn, she was concussed. Or just crazy. Forcing herself to focus, Paradox managed to get herself more or less into a sitting position. Great, except for the dizziness and the burning pain in her chest.

"We need the others," she managed to whisper, wanting to stay more but unable to through the pain.

"I called them, they should be here right about-"

As if on cue, the Dark Roses rushed into the room, automatically spreading out into a loose semi-circle with Rogue at the front. She had her gun drawn and held at her side. Discharge's eyes were purple and Animal was in her animal form. Paradox looked at them and let herself collapse. Tempus immediately rushed forward and knelt down beside her, holding her hands over her chest.

The mutant girl was struggling up again, already recovering from Onix's attack. Zephyr threw a wave of compressed air at her, knocking her down yet again. Animal ran and pounced, clawing at the girl, biting into the tender flesh. Screams filled the air, mixed with growls from Animal as she tore muscles and snapped tendons.

The screams faded to whimpers and gasps, and then there was silence. Well, not really, Animal was still growling and they could hear her biting into the girl's flesh.

Rogue blew out a breath and holstered her gun, stepping forward and pulling off a glove. She touched Animal's shoulder, grimacing as the taste of metallic blood filled her mouth. Animal turned and tried to pounce, but she was too tired, and collapsed at Rogue's feet.

Taking several deep breaths, and firmly not looking at the body so as not to stir up the bloodlust lurking inside her, Rogue took a moment to centre herself, to push Ivy's dark thoughts out of her mind.

"That was over with quickly," Kar noted, his eyes green once again. He ran a hand through his purple hair and looked around. "Wow, this place is trashed."

"It is, isn't it?" a slightly amused voice said, and they all whirled around to find Cathryn standing before the dark red curtains. She looked around and sighed. "Well, this is a pain."

Alistor glanced at her from where he was helping a young man out from under the wreckage. "Your club gets half destroyed and that's all you have to say?" he asked in surprise, and she shrugged.

"If I had a meltdown every time something bad happened here, I'd be in the looney bin by now."

"Jamie, is she alright?" Rogue asked, and Jamie nodded, still focused on Selene's chest. Her glowing eyes were distant, seeing things that no one else could. Rogue mimicked the nod and turned to look at the mutant.

Chalice watched as Rogue studied the girl for a moment. She wondered what Rogue thought of when she looked at the bodies of those she, or her teammates, killed. She wondered what she felt, if she felt anything. A pang of guilt hit her when she thought that, and she repressed a sigh.

Rogue turned and caught Chalice's eye by accident. Cathryn almost flinched from the utterly empty look in Rogue's grey eyes. She'd never seen someone with eyes so… dead. There was no emotion in those eyes, no mercy or remorse or compassion. They were endless pools of nothing. Rogue frowned, noting the flicker of guilt in Cathryn's eyes.

"Is something wrong, Chalice?" she asked quietly, her voice nearly as empty as her eyes, and Cathryn shook her head.

"Other than the fact that I'll have to close the club for a few days, nothing. But, uh, you might want to get out of here before the cops show up. I don't want to have to bail you out of jail."

"Right. Jamie, can you get us a bubble?"

The young girl nodded, and waited until Alistor and Kar had brought the corpse and Ivy to her so that they were grouped together. Alistor was now topless, having given his shirt to Selene due to the hole in her corset.

Chalice watched as Jamie rubbed her hands together and then made a small flicking gesture. The Dark Roses vanished from sight, or rather from time, and Cathryn sighed. She turned and walked up to her office to start making some calls, but the memory of Rogue's empty, emotionless eyes haunted her thoughts.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Notes: This is a very different chapter, done in a style called 'conversational prose'. It's from Rogue's point of view, but no other names are mentioned, so it's up to you to guess who she's thinking about at various points. If you like this chapter, and the style, then check out my friend angyl-devyl's work, she is a master at it. Plus, she created Cathryn!

Chapter Thirteen

Dark sky,

Glittering stars,

Endless eternity,

Forever tormented.

No one's here,

There's just me,

Me and my pain,

Me and my loneliness.

Whispers in the darkness

--------------

Does no one see me?

Does no one care?

--------------

Of course they don't,

I won't let them.

I'm always hiding,

Always pretending,

I don't let them see,

I don't let them care,

I keep them safe,

I keep them at a distance.

I can't touch,

Can't love,

I can't be a part of this world.

But you touched,

You loved,

You made me a part of this world.

And now you're gone,

Lost forever,

Leaving me here,

Alone,

Cold,

Scared.

-------------------

The city was bright, neon signs blinking and street lamps casting puddles of orange light onto the ground. But between the lights, was the darkness, thick shadows that swallowed the light. That was where she lived, in the darkness, hidden from the world. Her face hidden in shadows, she watched the people rush past her, laughing and joking as the enjoyed their evening. She remembered when she had enjoyed an evening out. It had been so long ago. He had taken her to the theatre, to see a play she could no longer remember.

It had been a funny play, she remembered that, and they had laughed as they walked home, her laugh bright and cheerful, his dark and wicked. She loved his laugh, it was full of dark promises that could never be put into words. She missed that laugh. It always used to make her feel better, made her feel warm and happy.

But he wasn't laughing now, he would never laugh again. He was gone.

-------------------

I don't like being scared.

I was never scared with you,

You made me feel safe,

You made me feel loved.

Will I ever feel that way again?

Will I ever let myself feel that way again?

Or will I continue to fight,

Continue to kill,

Continue to chip pieces from my soul?

Will I ever be rescued?

Will I ever be allowed to rest?

Or will I be forced to remain in this endless torment?

Always alone,

Always shrouded in darkness,

Always hiding in the shadows,

Never stepping into the light,

Never showing myself to the world.

Always darkness and never light,

Complete opposites,

Existing in the same being,

Existing in me.

---------------

A young computer geek, a popular football player, a high-strung weather goddess, a selfish shapeshifter, a bubbly Valley girl… so many people, so many personalities, all in one person. Confusion flickered across her grey eyes, emotions whirling and conflicting, before the calm dead returned, her mind repressing the loud voices, her eyes dulling and going empty. So empty…

---------------

Am I a being?

Am I human?

Or am I monster?

Are the mutant-haters right?

Do I deserve to die?

I kill with my touch,

I kill with my gun,

I kill with my body.

I don't give life,

I take it.

I take the lives of those that deserve it,

I take the lives of those that need it.

I take the lives of those that threaten the lives of others'.

Does that make me a monster?

Am I as bad as the ones I kill?

Or is the blood on my hands righteous?

Does motive justify the crime?

Does the blessing of God nullify the sin?

-----------------

Did he believe in Him right to the end? Did his faith support him as the world exploded into chaos? Did he have that comfort as he died? She hoped he did. She hoped that he had managed to retain some spark of hope inside him like he always had. Even when things were bad, when there didn't seem to be any hope at all, he would always cling to his belief that God had a plan. She had envied that, that he could always find hope and faith no matter how dark the situation.

-----------------

I don't believe in God,

I never have.

Some believe our mutations are a gift from Him,

But I know better.

Mutants are just a genetic leap,

A defect,

Are we a mistake?

Are mutants a mistake?

Should be even exist?

Or should ordinary humans not exist?

Should we exist together?

Could we exist together?

Will we live in harmony and peace,

Or will we kill each other in blood and pain?

------------------

So many questions,

Yet I have no answers,

I never have answers.

------------------

We're moving foreword blindly,

Trusting… what?

What do I trust?

Do I trust in myself?

In a higher power guiding me?

Or do I trust the whimsical thing called fate?

Am I following the path I was meant to walk,

Or have I strayed into the unknown?

The unknown,

That's what some call death,

Because no one knows what death feels like.

I do.

------------------

Death. What is true death? Is it when your heart stops, your mind dies, and your body turns cold? Or is it a state of existing that isn't living? Is it watching your eyes fade and go empty? Is it looking at the world and knowing that you don't belong?

------------------

I know what it feels like to die,

To have the life slowly seep out of your body,

To watch the world darken and become distorted,

To feel your pulse slow and your breath to come shorter,

Each breath drawing you closer,

No one knows about the empathy I have for my victims,

They don't know that for that one crystalline moment,

We are one.

I become them and they become me,

We exist together,

One being in two bodies.

But then the last of the life slips from their body,

And,

Once again,

I am alone.

----------------

Wandering aimlessly, senses open and taking in everything, alert to every possible danger. She was lost. Not physically, she knew exactly where she was and what surrounded her, but inside, she was lost. They were all gone, she was alone again. Why did it always have to be her! Why couldn't she just have someone to hold for a little while? Why did she always have to be alone?

----------------

Alone,

But not empty.

No,

Not empty.

Now I have company,

Now I have people inside my head,

Whispering,

Teasing,

Taunting,

Tormenting.

I'm always on my own,

But never alone.

What does it mean to be alone?

Is anyone ever truly alone?

Is alone a statement of physical positioning,

Or is it a statement of emotional belief?

----------------

Am I alone?

I think I am,

I think I always have been.

---------------

Alone in the darkness,

Drowning in blood,

Tortured screams echoing in my mind,

Harsh accusations slashing my skin,

Pain tearing at my heart,

Tears splashing against my cheeks,

My body is scarred,

So is my soul.

Scarred and scared.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Jamie looked around the makeshift hospital room. It was situated in the basement, like at the last house, but this basement was divided up into two rooms. The room with the stairs leading up to the kitchen was a dojo, set up with various pieces of equipment, an impressive array of weapons on one wall, and a large mat for sparring.

The second room was to the left, with a nicely lockable door, and was as sterile as any basement could get. There were two examining tables, a large cabinet filled with medical things, and a sink for washing up. It was notably nicer than the old house, with slightly more room to move, and the walls had at some point been painted a soothing powder blue.

One of the examining tables was currently in use, a white sheet draped over the girl's body. Jamie always preferred to give her patients that little shred of modesty. Sure, she poked and prodded and looked inside their bodies, but she didn't do anything she didn't have to, and if she wasn't working on an area that was usually covered by clothing, she tried her hardest to make sure it was covered. It was simple courtesy.

Realising that she was daydreaming, something she almost never did, Jamie shook her head and walked over to the table. The people who had set the place up had kindly put the table at a low enough height for her to reach comfortably. Apparently, speeding up a person's ageing so that they had grey hair and wrinkly skin at twenty-five was a good threat.

Smiling grimly at the memory, Jamie picked up the small hand-held recorder from the table at her elbow and pushed record.

"Mutant number nineteen, female, approximately five foot five, brown eyes, brown hair, exact powers unknown but is definitely energy-based. She attacked The Mutant Pitt at approximately eleven twenty three on October the third. Was fought by Paradox and Onix, and killed by Animal. The body has been mutilated at the neck area and stomach due to Animal's attack. Scars are visible on her back, appear to be made from some sort of whip, as well as her upper-thighs, from some kind of sharp instrument, jagged, not a knife. Eyes are bloodshot suggesting lack of sleep, probably for an extended period of time. Tips of fingers are bruised, possibly a side effect for her powers. Small puncture wound at bend of her left elbow, probably a needle of some kind, this was not visible on any of the other mutants, suggesting it is not related to her capture."

"Starting the party without me?" a wry voice said, and Jamie turned to see Selene standing in the doorway. The brunette tsked her and moved over to the cabinet to wash her hands and pull on a pair of gloves. "Naughty, naughty."

"I thought you might want to rest," Jamie said, pressing stop on the recorder.

"Why? You healed me and now I'm perfect again."

"Yes, but you had probably been dancing for some time, I detected some fatigue in you when I was healing you."

Selene waved a hand in a dismissive way, walking over to stand opposite Jamie. "Ah, so I was a bit tired. I had a nice long shower, scrubbed myself clean, and now I want to get on with some work. Wow, Ivy really messed her up."

"Indeed."

----------------------------

Ivy spat out the mouthful of mouthwash and glared at her reflection. Four rounds of toothpaste and mouthwash and she still couldn't get the taste of blood out of her mouth. And not just blood, meat, that soft, tender, fleshy taste of human meat, still warm as she chewed and swallowed…

Ivy gagged and forced her thoughts away from the sensory memory, away from the thought that the phantom taste in her mouth was nice. She loved the taste of meat in her mouth, craved the smooth texture of human skin, hungered for the metallic taste of blood.

The feral mutant gave her reflection one last, disgusted look, and stalked out of the bathroom. As Selene was helping Jamie with the autopsy, the bedroom was blessedly empty, and Ivy threw herself onto her bed.

Dammit, she hated her mutation! Why did she have to be like this? Why did she have to live with these dark impulses? Why must she look at her friends and either think 'threat' or 'food'? Why did she have to dream of chasing down innocent children and tearing at their flesh? Why dammit!

There were no answers to her questions, there never was, and she was left with a bitter anger in the pit of her stomach, burning like a fire. Her hands clenched into fists, her fingernails digging into her palms hard enough to draw blood. The faint coppery scent filled her senses, bringing back the sharp memories of what it tasted like to swirl that thick, warm liquid around her mouth, savouring the delicious taste of it.

Rolling over with a frustrated growl, Ivy buried her face in her pillow, refusing to smell the sweet scent of her own blood.

"I fucking hate me," she mumbled into her pillow, finally giving voice to her tumultuous emotions.

"It's not your fault," a soft voice from the doorway said, and Ivy sat up quickly, muscles tensing as she automatically readied for a fight. When she realised that it was Kar, she relaxed slightly.

"Go away, Kar," she muttered, a growl tracing the menacing tone of her voice.

"No. Look, I am tired of seeing you constantly beat yourself up over the things you do when you go feral. It is not your fault, and I wish you would realise that. So what if you happen to like eating people, I don't give a shit, because it's _not you_. Or at least, not the real you. It's just the beast inside you that the X-Gene gave you."

"But the beast is me!" Ivy cried in a mixture of frustration and sadness. "It lurks inside me like some horrible creature and I can't escape it and I can't outlive it! It is always there, whispering to me, urging me to do things that I don't want to do! Do you know that whenever I look at you I wonder what you'd taste like? Do you know that I dream about chasing you through the night and eating your flesh? Do you know what that feels like?"

Kar watched helplessly as Ivy collapsed on the floor, her face buried in her hands and her shoulders shaking. He hesitated on what to do, he wasn't really good with the comforting thing, but eventually he knelt down in front of her and tentatively wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She resisted at first, her muscles tensing and she made a few weak efforts at escaping, but Kar knew that it was token resistance and held on until she relaxed in his arms, not returning the hug but not rejecting it either.

Kar closed his eyes as he ran a hand through Ivy's short black hair, letting the silky strands slide through his fingers, watching as they fell back to mesh with the rest, lost in a sea of onyx black. His fingers darted into that dark mass and touched her scalp, trailing down to reach the base of her skull, and then her neck, stopping when the collar of her tee shirt halted his progress.

"Why do you always do this?" Ivy muttered, raising her amber eyes to look at him with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.

Kar hesitated. Truth was, he didn't know entirely why he always tried to comfort her. It wasn't easy, trying to get close to her, and trying to hug her usually involved a painful rejection, but… something in him just couldn't stand to see her suffer. He had puzzled over that little spark of insistence for hours, trying to understand, but always failed. He liked Ivy, he knew that, but he hadn't thought he liked her that much. Now he was reconsidering.

"You're my friend," he eventually said quietly. "I don't like my friends to be unhappy."

"So you lie to keep me happy."

"No, I tell the truth to try and make you happy."

Ivy frowned at him, trying to detect the falsity in his eyes but failing. He seemed to be telling the truth. Hm.

Kar pulled away, knowing that the hug was officially over, and gently took her deceptively small hands in his and looked at the bloody palms. The cuts were shallow, just a drop or two of blood for each half-moon, but it made something in his gut twitch painfully at the sight.

A faint blush coloured Ivy's cheeks and she tugged her hands out of Kar's, balling them up to hide the marks. She didn't know why, but she didn't want Kar to see them. She frowned at the feeling, not used to having unclear motives and not liking it one bit.

"Dinner should be ready in a few minutes," Kar said quietly, standing up and offering her a hand, which she reluctantly accepted. "Why don't you go wash up and put a little anti-septic cream on those cuts?"

"They don't-"

"Please."

Ivy sighed and nodded. She was only agreeing because she didn't want to waste time arguing with him, of course. Kar flashed her a smile and left, and she stood there for a moment, thinking, before shaking herself and returning to the bathroom.

She hated the bathroom, it was when she could no longer avoid looking in the mirror and seeing the beast that lurked inside her. She could see it in her eyes, a slither of something dark and primitive, waiting for the moment it got released.

After washing her hands in lukewarm water and rubbing a little cream on them, she walked downstairs to find that everyone, minus Selene and Jamie, was in the kitchen. Alistor was checking on dinner, a pasta dish of some sort, while Kar got out plates and cutlery, and Michelle made the various drinks people wanted. Rogue was sitting at the table, absently drumming her fingers on the table.

What was that guilt she had seen in Cathryn's eyes? Why had the other woman been so sad to see her do her job? It didn't make any sense, she had known what Rogue did, had supported it for months, or was it years? When had all this truly started? When she recruited Ivy as the first Dark Rose? When they had killed the first mutant? Or had it started before that? How long had she been a killer? When had she forsaken all her morals and values for her cause?

"Rogue, dinner," Kar said, nudging her shoulder, and she blinked, snapped out of her musings. She mumbled a thanks and began eating, letting the conversation between Alistor and Kar wash over her.

Selene could have died. Had Jamie not healed her, blood and fluid would have seeped into her lungs and she would have died from internal bleeding. She had nearly lost a teammate and friend. She should be sad about that, but she didn't. She was just… numb. When she thought of Selene dying, she thought of Paradox dying. She thought of losing her powers and skills. She thought of having to find and recruit someone else.

Rogue remembered back to when she had tortured Mitchell, when she had felt so calm and empty. She had been scared about that, she hadn't wanted to lose her emotions. But that had been temporary, her emotions had returned and she'd carried on as normal. Only now… now the emptiness was back, and she didn't know how to get rid of it.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

It was dark, a soft, velvet sheet of black that wrapped itself around her body and chilled her soul. She was alone in the dark, she knew it. She could walk for miles and not find anyone. She'd never find anyone. She was alone. Always alone. No one to help her. No one to save her.

Voices in the dark. Can't escape them, can't run from them. They chase her, always catching her, accusing and hurting. Sharp words cutting her skin, blood flowing, wet crimson against silken black. So much blood, dripping away, sliding against her skin, trails of red. Her life was dripping away, bleeding away, she couldn't stop it. She was going to die. All alone.

"Beg me, freak!"

No, don't want to beg, won't beg, go away. Have to beg, have to plead, he's stronger, faster, better. He's killing her, oh so slowly, killing her heart, killing her soul. Does he know what he's doing? Does he know he's making her his enemy? Does he know he's making her his murderer? She'll kill him, she'll cut him and watch his life bleed away. No one hurts her and lives. No one.

"Call me master!"

He's not her master. She has no master. No one controls her. She's free, trapped within the strict confines of her tortured mind, she is free. Trapped in a cage, can't get out, people chasing her, demanding revenge, she wants revenge, too. Always avenging wrongs, always fighting for the weak, always killing herself. Why will no one save her?

Rogue gasped and woke up, staring at the ceiling with wide, scared eyes. Her heart was thudding in her chest, painfully loud in the still silence of night. Her skin was covered in sweat, and she had to glance at her bare arms to see that it wasn't the thick redness of blood. Her breath burned in her lungs, a sharp biting pain that reminded her that she was indeed still breathing. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or sad about that.

Then she wondered at just what point she had turned passively suicidal. Then again, isn't that what she always did? Throw herself at danger and not care about if she lived through it? Just what did she have to live for anyway? Pain, blood, death, loneliness. Yeah, that was a terrific life.

Rogue sighed and sat up, pushing the thin covers off her legs. She wouldn't sleep again, she knew it, so she pushed her dishevelled hair out of her eyes and walked silently downstairs, alert to the slightest noise that would indicate either someone else awake or an intruder.

There was actually coffee in the pot, stone cold of course, so she poured herself a cup and sipped it, sitting down at the kitchen table. It wasn't often that she had nightmares, having trained her mind as well as her body, but when she did they were never pleasant. She hated having nightmares, not just because they were creepy and scary and often revealed things about her subconscious that she didn't want to know, but because they were a weakness, a chink in her armour, a failure to train her mind completely. She'd spent hours in meditation and doing focusing exercises, she'd done everything possible to train her mind, but it hadn't been enough. It was never enough.

God, she'd tried so hard to be the best, to be perfect, she'd forced herself to learn the most complex forms of martial arts and street fighting techniques, she had a black belt in Judo, Kendo and Aikido, she could put herself into deep meditation at the drop of a hat, and it wasn't enough. She'd learnt how to use various handguns, rifles, shotguns, machine guns, knives, swords, quarterstaffs and even tonfas and it wasn't enough. She was still weak.

Everyone thought she was so strong, so brave and courageous and talented and skilled. They looked at her and saw a fighter, a warrior. But when she looked in the mirror, all she saw was a weak little girl who had let some stupid man control her.

And he was still controlling her, wasn't he? He was still the reason she fought so hard, the reason she risked so much, the reason she was who she was. Sure, there were some perks to being her, she had a nice body and had a few meagre skills with weapons and fighting, but in the end, it didn't matter. She was still a monster.

Back before the Mutant Wars, Professor Xavier had always told them 'the wrong thing done for the right reason is still the wrong thing'. It had been what kept them from doing things harsh and illegal, it had kept them good guys. But he'd stopped saying that when Bezerker had been killed. It had been two weeks into the first, shorter and less bloody, war, and Ray had been shot in the head by an anonymous soldier. As he looked at the body, Xavier had finally admitted that they were fighting a war, and wars weren't nice. He'd given the X-Men and other fighting mutants permission to do whatever necessary, and they had begun to fight in earnest.

Rogue wondered if he had done the right thing in making that decision. It had saved their lives, sure, had ensured a somewhat tentative protection for mutants everywhere, but he had killed something inside of them, had broken their minds, damned their souls. What made them any different from the humans attacking them? They killed for what they believed was right, to protect those they loved and those that were innocent. But so did the humans. Who decided what was right and wrong?

Rogue sighed and sipped her coffee, trying in vain to rid her mind of such depressing thoughts. Then again, if she was depressed, she wasn't empty was she? But she hated being depressed, it usually led to being drunk, which usually led to being vulnerable, useless, and with a killer headache.

The first war had only lasted two months of semi-constant fighting. The causalities had been mostly humans, who were too surprised at the fact that the mutants were actually killing them to defend themselves properly. They realised they weren't strong enough and retreated, giving the mutants time to regroup. The X-Men had been busy during that reprieve, checking all the separate battle sites in various countries, making lists of what people needed and how desperately they wanted it, reassuring people that they were doing the right thing and that they would win.

Then the fighting had started up again after three weeks, the humans back stronger and better than before. Unlike baseline humans, very few mutants were arrogant about their skills and abilities. Months of torment and abuse had shown them that they weren't gods or superheroes, they were just people with special abilities. So when the humans started killing them again, started shooting and tossing bombs, they were prepared.

It wasn't pretty, people were splattered with blood at the end of each battle, but they always won, always forced the baseline humans back. Eventually, they got the message, they began to understand that mutants weren't weak, that they weren't going to go away, and that they were damned impressive when backed into a corner. So the mutants won. Battered and scarred, they won their shaky status of free.

But now it was all going wrong again, now that bloody message had been forgotten, and there were no mutant armies to redeliver it. The Alliance was dead, mutants had drifted apart and forgotten their solidarity, they had even started to forget that they had a right to live.

And it was up to Rogue to ensure that everyone remembered everything the brutal wars had wrought. It was a huge responsibility, and she wondered if she could handle it. She wondered if she would survive it.

"You're giving me nightmares," Michelle mumbled as she shuffled into the room. Rogue firmly squashed her instinctive reaction to draw a weapon she wasn't wearing. Michelle flopped into the chair opposite her and blinked blearily.

"Wanna talk?" she asked, her words slurred with sleep.

"You're half asleep, Michelle, go back to bed."

"Can't, you keep waking me up."

"Sorry, I'll try to be quieter." Rogue sipped her cold coffee and looked away from Michelle's caring grey eyes, hoping the girl would go away. She couldn't handle social interaction right now, not even with her friend. She needed to be alone.

Michelle frowned, lowering her defences and focusing on Rogue's emotions. Only there were no emotions in Rogue. She felt into the other mutant's heart and found a great emptiness, a large expanse of white nothingness. She looked around the kitchen, seeing through Rogue's eyes, and saw that it was a dull, grey place that held no interest and no meaning. Nothing had any meaning.

"There's a reason you're not supposed to read me," Rogue said coldly, and Michelle quickly raised her shields, gathering them around her like a blanket. The emptiness faded, leaving her shaking and weak.

"Rogue…"

"Go to bed, Michelle."

Michelle stood up and left without saying a word, her steps faltering occasionally.

Rogue sighed and stared into the dark depths of her coffee. She sat there for a long time, thinking and trying not to, and eventually she came to a single conclusion: if all she had to live for was destroying the Agency and killing Mitchell, she wouldn't live once those tasks had been accomplished.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Emotions flittered across her senses like butterflies, light and gentle but annoying and distracting. Happiness from Envee, mixed with a vague sense of longing; frustration and anger from Ivy; boredom and restlessness from Selene; calm and peacefulness from Alistor. It all washed over her, through her, in a gentle wave, abusing and caressing her mind.

Michelle sighed and tried to raise her shields, tried to block out the emotions from her friends, but the cold nothingness from Rogue haunted her mind, made her unable to focus, and thus left her open to everything. That was why she got such a strong hit off the mutant.

Rage and hatred crashed into her mind, swallowing her up whole in a torrent of fierce passion. It took away her breath and she stared unseeing at the wall, a haze of blind fury settling over her eyes. Her hands clenched into fists, the need to destroy, to kill, coursing through her body like wildfire.

"Get out… of my… head," she muttered breathlessly, slamming her shields into place. The emotions faded, her leaving her shaking but herself, and she took a moment to breathe deeply for a moment before sending out a psychic pulse, grabbing her jacket and walking downstairs.

"What do we got?" Rogue asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Mutant, strong, male, no name, very advanced powers."

"How advanced?"

"He can duplicate any power, as long as he has been hit by it."

Silence fell as they all contemplated this for a moment before Kar asked, "So if we all just stand there and not hit him with our powers, we're safe?"

"Doubtful," Jamie said quietly, rubbing her hands together and summoning a bubble of no-time. "It is highly probable that the Agency would have given him a wide range of powers or he would be useless to them. We should expect the worst."

"Which could mean anything from psychokenetic to explosive," Rogue muttered, checking the clip in her gun. "Try to keep your power-usage to a minimum, rely on your fighting skills. Onix, I want you to be the primary attacker, after me. Use that sword of yours."

Alistor nodded and tightened his grip on his sword. Stien was a beautiful piece of weaponry, with a deep red handle and a solid black blade. It was razor sharp and glinted darkly in the sunlight.

"Where are we going, Michelle?"

Michelle frowned and absently rubbed her temples, sifting through the knowledge she had gained from the connection. "The monastery, I think," she said after a minute.

"Great, that's all we need-for some nun to get fried. Alright, I want two of you on protection duty, who's volunteering?"

Surprisingly, it was Ivy who first volunteered, and Kar agreed to help her. Rogue just nodded and began walking, her mind already running battle strategies and plotting tactics.

------------------------------

Paradox snapped her fingers and a small throwing knife appeared in her raised hand. She threw it quickly, wanting to get the mutant's attention off Rogue, who was currently kneeling on the ground gasping as her blood started to boil, her lungs starting to burn. The knife buried itself in the mutant's side and he jerked, turning around to glare at her.

Rogue sucked air back into her lungs, gasping as her body heat slowly started to cool. She forced herself to breathe evenly and looked up to see Zephyr curse and dive sideways to avoid a bolt of energy. It hit the wall behind her and dissolved the stones. Rogue merely raised an eyebrow, while Zephyr stared at the hole for a moment and mentally said a prayer of thanks that she had fast reflexes. She really didn't want to get dissolved, if she could avoid it.

Onix ran at the mutant's back, his sword raised high, but slammed into an unseen wall and crashed to the ground. He groaned and stumbled to his feet, only to be pushed out of the way by Michelle as the mutant swung at him with a fist suddenly made out of concrete.

"This guy's unbeatable!" Zephyr shouted, throwing a ball of compressed air at the mutant, only to have him stagger back a few feet before making a wild gesture with his arm. Blood flew in thick droplets, arcing through the air, and Zephyr gave a short scream as a deep gash appeared across her left cheekbone, blood dribbling down her face.

Rogue grit her teeth, her mind racing. She could draw her gun, try to shoot him, but he'd exhibited such a wide range of powers, she didn't want to risk him doing something to her favourite weapon. It was petty and she knew it, but she'd had her gun since the night she left the X-Men. It was the one constant in her chaotic life, and the chance that something could happen to it…

She sighed and pulled the knife out of her boot instead. She had plenty of knives and could easily get more; the loss of one wouldn't matter. Her eyes met Michelle's and the blonde nodded, moving to stand next to the stone fountain, ready to use it for cover. She took a deep breath and reached out to the mutant's mind.

She frowned, coming up against a strong resistance. It was like a large wall made of thick, solid steel. She felt along it, searching for a weak spot, but found none. She bit her lip and threw a psychic blast at the wall, feeling it weaken just a little.

The mutant jumped and whirled around to face her. He clenched his fist and flames licked at his skin, forming a solid glove of fire. Michelle didn't see it, too focused on his mind, and only Onix's shout made her dive behind the fountain in time to avoid a ball of fire.

Rogue pounced on his back, thrusting her knife into his body, finding and shredding his heart. He screamed, but it was cut off quickly as he coughed, blood splattering against his lips and chin. He fell to his knees, with Rogue still clinging to his back, and she waited a moment to be sure he was dead before climbing off him and pulling out her bloody knife.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked, cleaning her knife on the mutant's shirt. She looked around and found that Jamie was healing Envee's face. That had been the worse injury sustained, so Rogue concluded that everyone was indeed alright.

"Well, it looks like you're still as good as ever," a dark, tempting voice said. Rogue gasped and spun around to face the man.

It was a trick. It had to be a trick. This was some horrible, horrible lie sent to weaken her. It couldn't be real. He was dead. He was dead!

He smiled, and it was the same wicked smile from her memories. No one could smile like him, it was an utterly unique smile. His eyes glinted with amusement, and one eyebrow was raised slightly. He looked gorgeous, a vision of sweet temptation, like a guilty pleasure you knew you'd regret later.

"What's the matter, cher? Aren't you going to say hello?"

Rogue choked down a sob, a feeble smile curling her lips, and she stumbled forward to collapse against his body, nearly crying out with joy when he wrapped his arms around her.

Remy smiled as he held her close and vowed to never let her go again.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

His body was warm against hers, his heart beating steadily. She lost herself in his embrace, letting her mind slip away as she revelled in the fact that he was alive, that he was here and holding her and she wasn't alone anymore. He was talking to her quietly in French, and she understood enough to know that he had missed her, that she was beautiful, and that it felt so good to hold her, but other than that she just let the words wash over her.

"Rogue, what the hell is going on?"

The voice crashed through her mental fog and she sighed, reluctantly slipping out of Remy's embrace. She didn't turn around to face her team-mates, she didn't explain who Remy was or why she had hugged him or anything. She just looked into his dark eyes and felt a tear roll slowly down her cheek.

"I thought you were dead," she whispered, and he smiled sadly, brushing his fingers through her hair, careful not to touch her skin.

"I know, cher, and I'm sorry I didn't come to you sooner, but I had some very important things to do."

"What things?"

"Finding out the location of the Agency."

Rogue gasped, staring at him in disbelief. Remy smiled and then looked over her shoulder at her rather stunned team.

"Bonjour, mes amies, I'm Remy LeBeau."

Michelle blinked, knowing exactly who Remy was, but the rest just nodded with a mixture of suspicion and confusion.

The distant sound of sirens drifted across the courtyard, and Jamie looked at Rogue. After deciding that their commander was in no shape to actually command, she ordered Alistor to carry the body and created a time bubble with a flick of her hands.

As they slowly walked back to the house, safe in their bubble of no-time, Rogue thought. Her mind was in chaos, emotions and thoughts screaming at her, vying for her attention, torturing her heart.

He was alive. She'd spent so many nights dreaming of him, wishing and praying that he were alive, that he was there to hold her, and suddenly… he was. He was just suddenly there, complete with his wicked smile and dark eyes, and she didn't know how she felt about that. She was happy, obviously, but… not completely. There was just something in the back of her mind that whispered dark things to her.

She wasn't the same person anymore, she wasn't the person he had known, and she never could be again. Like it or not, she was a trained killer, nearly a sociopath, and had more worries than anyone could imagine. What if he couldn't accept that? What if he was disgusted by the person she had become? What if he rejected her?

She wasn't sure she could handle being rejected by him. He had meant so much to her, he still did, and with him he had brought back emotions stronger than ever, emotions she thought had died. Her once calm heart was now being torn to shreds by raging emotions. She wanted so much to love him, and for him to love her back, but in the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind, she knew that she couldn't.

If she loved, if she grew attached to something or someone, then she wouldn't be able to do her job. She wouldn't be able to take the risks she did. She wouldn't be able to die for her cause. And that could never happen. She relied on her recklessness, her apathy, her will to do whatever it took.

If Remy took that away, if he made her feel… the world would suffer. She wouldn't be able to stop the Agency, they would continue with their malicious work and every mutant on the planet would be endangered. She couldn't let that happen.

Rogue glanced sideways at Remy, who was talking quietly with Selene, and decided that he couldn't stay. The decision made her heart ache, but it only reinforced her resolve. She couldn't afford to be so emotional. She might hate the cold emptiness, but it was the only thing keeping her, and through her every other mutant, safe.

But maybe… maybe when she succeeded in her mission, assuming she survived and hadn't screwed up all possible chances of a relationship, maybe she could give it another try.

She choked on a bitter laugh. A relationship, her, the one with the poisoned skin. It would be one hell of a relationship, wouldn't it? She couldn't touch, couldn't kiss, couldn't make love. Not unless she wanted to kill him.

Besides, this was all assuming that he didn't despise the person she had become, and that was a fairly uncertain thing. Remy might not be a saint, and his sense of honour was a little twisted, but he did have honour and morals and all that shit. There was a distinct possibility that he couldn't, or wouldn't, even accept a cold-blooded murderer, much less love one.

Rogue sighed, trying to force her mind into some semblance of calm. She had a decision, she was going to send him away. Everything else was irrelevant.

-----------------------

The corpse was immediately put in the basement, and Selene was given the task of cleaning him up before Jamie did the autopsy. Everyone else sat or stood in the living room, with Rogue huddled in the armchair and looking at everyone but Remy. She was painfully aware of his presence, of every move he made and every breathe he took, and it infuriated her to know that she couldn't block him out.

She needed to focus on her job, she needed to find out what he knew and then send him away. Fortunately Jamie could see that something was troubling Rogue and took over.

"So, Mr. LeBeau, exactly why are you interested in the Agency?"

Remy smiled and shrugged. Jamie frowned, not liking the way he hadn't answered.

"You're a mutant, yes?"

Again, a shrug.

"I assume you know Rogue, so that earns you a shred of trust, but how do we know that you aren't a spy sent by the Agency?"

Shrug.

"Stop shrugging and answer my questions." Her voice remained quiet, but was filled with anger, a rare show of emotion.

"He won't." Rogue's voice was soft and filled with an emotion none of them recognised. They all looked at her and fell silent, watching as she stood up and walked over to stand bare inches away from Remy. He was a few inches taller than her, so she had to look up to see his eyes.

"Why did you come back?" she whispered, searching his eyes for answers while unobtrusively removing a glove. She felt her team tense when they saw the action and knew that they were now all alert and battle-ready.

"You need my help," he replied quietly.

"No. I don't need your help, and I don't want it. Tell me what you know about the Agency. Why are you interested in them? How did you find out about them? How did you find out their location? Do you know any other details that I might be unaware of?"

He smiled, a sardonic arrogant smile that made anger spark within her mind. It felt good to get angry. It was something she understood. "One question at a time, ma petite fleur."

She glared, hating the nickname she had loved in the past, and at his superior attitude. She debated touching him, but wanted to leave her trump card for later. That, and she was afraid of what she might discover.

In a cold, controlled voice she demanded, "Why are you interested in the Agency?"

"Because dey be bad people, cher."

Rogue grit her teeth, and behind her back her hands clenched into fists. "How did you find out about them?"

"A friend told me."

"Who?"

"Someone you know."

Rogue frowned and thought about that. She didn't know that many people, besides her Roses and Cathryn, and she was certain that no one else knew about the Agency. So logically, he must mean…

"You know Cathryn?"

"Oui."

"She hasn't mentioned you."

"I'm not surprised."

Rogue's eyes narrowed and she made a mental note to have a chat with Cathryn later, but moved onto the next question. "How did you find out about them?"

Again Remy gave that lazy shrug of his, silently telling Rogue he wasn't going to answer the question directly. "I asked around."

Rogue thought about that for a second and deduced that he had asked some of the people from his old life. She wondered about pressing for details, but knew from past experience that he was just as stubborn as she was, so moved on. "Where is the Agency?"

"Which one?"

Rogue frowned at him, and he smiled, reaching out to flick her hair out of her eyes.

"You're beautiful when you frown."

Something in the back of her mind jumped up and danced at the compliment, but the rest of Rogue just scowled and jerked her head away.

"Don't touch me, don't compliment me, just answer the bloody questions."

Something like pain flickered in Remy's eyes before he smiled and shrugged yet again. Rogue took a deep breath and let it out slowly, keeping a tight grip on her control. She couldn't be emotional, she had a job to do.

"Where is the Agency?" she repeated, anger threading her quiet voice.

Remy looked at her for a moment, and she had the uncanny thought that he was assessing her, testing her. She waited, staring coldly into his dark eyes, until he blinked and sighed.

"We'll need to talk in private a moment, cher."

Rogue frowned, not liking the suggestion, but after a moment's thought nodded and led him up to her bedroom, carefully keeping her hands out of his sight at all times. He glanced around the room quickly, though Rogue knew he would remember every detail, before sitting down on the bed. He didn't lounge, didn't lay down, didn't do anything suggestive or sexy, he just sat. That worried Rogue; it wasn't like Remy to be serious and not tease her. Leaning against the dresser, she looked at him and waited for him to talk.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Remy was silent for several long minutes, sorting out what he knew and what he needed to tell her. Eventually, he did begin to speak, knowing that the danger to his wellbeing increased with each word.

"About a week before you left the X-Men, Professor Xavier had a visit from a young geneticist he knew. They talked for hours about the war and the man responsible for it, Lt. Colonel Henry Mitchell. Through Xavier's powers, they knew about his hatred for mutants, and his determination to kill us all. They knew that even if we won the war, he wouldn't stop. They knew that eventually, someone would have to kill him and all his associates. They talked about each of the X-Men, Acolytes and Brotherhood members, even the Morlocks, and finally selected the person they would rest all their hopes on, someone who they would gradually turn into a cold-blooded killer. Neither of them were happy with the decision, but they realised that they had to do it.

"So a week later, you were sent away from everyone you knew and loved to begin your training. Cathryn contacted a couple of people she knew to set up regular attacks on you, to help you home your skills. She arranged for you to have lessons in various forms of fighting and weaponry. And eventually, you had become the person you had to be. She made certain that you saw Scott's televised execution, knowing that it would push you over the edge, and then she made sure that you met Ivy, the one Dark Rose she picked out herself.

"On the same night that you left, so did I. You were given the task of destroying the Agency, I was given the task of finding them. I went back home, to France, and made contact with various people there. It took a while, the Agency is very good at covering their tracks, but eventually I found a solid lead and followed it here. For the sake of my mission, I wasn't told where you would be, so that when I followed a lead and found you, I'd know it was real.

"I arrived in town about three weeks ago, and the first thing I did was go to the club to talk to Cathryn. She told me that you were indeed here and fighting mutants, and I left once again to make contact with more people. Yesterday, I found out the location of the Agency. Or at least, one building. There is a sort of headquarters somewhere on the planet, but I haven't been able to find out where. Their main building, though, is right here in town. I scouted it for the entire day yesterday, and today I came and found you."

Rogue's eyes were violent stormclouds of rage, but the rest of her face was a blank mask, her body language relaxed but alert. She was silent for a long time, thinking about everything she had just heard, and only one clear thought remained in her head when she was done: she had been betrayed.

She had been betrayed in the worst way by the man who was the closest thing to a father she had. He had willingly sacrificed her soul and her sanity for the cause, and hadn't even consulted her about it. He was solely responsible for the lonely emptiness inside her. It was all his fault. Wait, no, it wasn't. It was her fault too. She had helped in the betrayal, and had continued betraying her every day since then. The training, the attacks, the mind-numbing nothingness, it had all been carefully planned.

A distant part of her mind finally recognised the guilty look she had seen in Cathryn's eyes when Selene and Alistor had been attacked at the club, and that she might actually feel guilty about the decision, but the rest of her mind was so consumed with rage that she ignored the voice.

A soft sigh from the doorway made her whip around and reach for her gun. She froze when she saw Cathryn standing there, looking at her sadly. For a second, Rogue couldn't think. She looked into the beautiful face of her friend and saw the ugly face of a betrayer.

She wasn't quite show when she moved, or why Chalice never dodged; she seemed to lose a couple of seconds, because the next thing she knew, she was standing in front of Chalice, her knuckles stinging like fire, and Cathryn's head had twisted to the side, her hair hiding her face.

Rogue blinked and took a step back, then another, until she was standing by the window. She wanted to hurt Cathryn, she wanted to make her suffer, but some part of her mind told her that it wouldn't be a good idea, so she reluctantly got control of herself. She opened her mouth to ask why, but what came out was, "You bitch."

Chalice sighed again and rubbed her cheek, looking at Remy who just shrugged. "I know what I did was horrible," she said quietly, looking at her shoes. "And there's not a day goes by that I don't wish we'd found another way, but the truth is we did what we had to. Mitchell and his crew have to be stopped and the only way to do that is to kill them. Charles and I talked all through the night about who to choose, and we eventually decided that you were… perfect. You'd already killed once, long before the others, when you shoved Mystique off the cliff, and though you showed remorse, you didn't show regret. It was that incident that ultimately made us choose you. The others… they weren't strong enough, ruthless enough, to be…."

"A sociopath?"

Cathryn grimaced and nodded. "I'm not trying to make excuses about what I did, it was unforgivable, but-"

Rogue's fraying control snapped. "Damn right it was unforgivable! You used me, Cathryn! You made me into a little fucking puppet, just like Mystique did to me and Sebastian did to you! You of all people should know just how much betrayal hurts! I thought I could trust you, dammit, and I did! I thought you understood me, but all you did was use me!"

Cathryn flinched, but didn't try to speak again. Rogue glared at her, wrestling with the urge to hit her again, and gradually gathered the tattered shreds of her control. She took a deep breath and pushed her hair out of her eyes, realising that her left hand was still bare. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally touch one of them, so she walked over to the dresser and pulled on her glove.

Rogue leaned against the dresser with her back to Remy and Chalice, and stared at her reflection. A deep pain was etched into her once dead eyes, and she knew that no matter what she did or how old she got, she would never forget this day, when her entire world crashed down around her. Everything she had believed, everything she had known, it had all been a lie. She'd dared to trust Chalice, dared to like her as a friend, and all it had brought her was pain.

The cold emptiness was now laced with pain, the white place in her head now stained with violent slashes of black and red. Her heart ached violently, her entire body tingling with the aftershocks of the revelation. She could never forgive Xavier and Cathryn for what they had done, and because of that, she had tarnished the memory of the Professor, and lost one of her closest friends forever.

But the fact remained that she still had a job to do. She was closer than ever to accomplishing her task. She knew where at least part of the Agency was, and once inside it shouldn't be too hard to find the Headquarters. Then all she had to do was destroy both buildings and any others that existed, and slaughter everyone involved, starting with Mitchell.

Chalice and Xavier had moulded and shaped her to be a deadly weapon, a being with no morals and no conscience. Time for them to see just how well they had succeeded.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

The Dark Roses were scared. They were scared and worried and feeling very… lost. They didn't know exactly what had happened between Rogue, Remy and Chalice, but Michelle had nearly collapsed, and they had heard Rogue shout something about betrayal. Their leader, the person they all trusted and had faith in, was on the verge of losing her sanity, and they knew it.

Michele whimpered from where she was laying on the couch, a grimace of pain on her face, and Kar brushed her hair out of her face, trailing his fingers down her cheek. During the five minutes she'd been semi-unconscious, they had learned that touch helped ease whatever she was going through. Sure enough, the whimpers faded and a little of the pain vanished from her expression.

Footsteps on the stairs made them all tense and look at the doorway. Rogue appeared in the doorway, and none of them liked the quiet fury in her eyes.

"I'm going out, I'll be back sometime tonight. Remy is not to leave this house under any circumstances, but Cathryn can go to hell for all I care." She glanced at Michelle's prone body and something dark passed behind her eyes but all she said was, "Someone make sure there's aspirin handy for when she wakes up." Then she turned and left, the door not quite slamming behind her.

The Roses glanced at each other, not understanding the look of harsh anger on Rogue's face when she mentioned Cathryn. Jamie fetched a glass of water and a couple of aspirin from the kitchen, setting them down on the coffee table. Then she resumed her seat on the floor in front of the armchair, next to Alistor's legs. She looked at Selene, who just stared at her hands, a troubled frown creasing her brow.

"Something bad happened," she muttered, breaking the tense and confused silence.

Kar snorted. "No shit. Does anyone know what?"

Ivy shrugged from where she was leaning against the wall. "Something about betrayal, that's all I heard. Whatever it was, it was big. I've never seen Rogue so pissed."

"And why was she mad at Cathryn?" Envee wondered thoughtfully. "She's always been pretty close to Chal, trusts her more than anyone else. I didn't think anything could've made her hate her so much."

"Maybe Cathryn was the one to betray her," Jamie suggested quietly. The reaction was immediate, all the conscious Roses protesting that Cathryn wouldn't do that, even Alistor. They all loved Cathryn, and trusted her implicitly. The idea that she would betray Rogue was unthinkable. Jamie waited patiently for them to get over the shock and start to think about it. Doubt, worry, and realisation flowed across their faces and they stared at one another for a long time.

"We could ask," Selene suggested weakly, once again breaking the silence.

"Couldn't hurt," Kar agreed.

They all looked at each other, before Ivy sighed irritably and volunteered. Muttering about weak foolishness, she stalked upstairs and hesitated in the doorway to Rogue's bedroom.

Remy was lying on the bed, cradling Chalice against his body, stroking her back and running his hand through her thick auburn hair. His eyes were closed, and if it weren't for the sadness in his expression, he would almost have seemed peaceful. Cathryn, on the other hand, appeared anything but peaceful. She was shivering oh-so-slightly, and her hands were fisted tightly in Remy's shirt, her face buried in his shoulder.

"We need to know what's going on," Ivy said bluntly, walking into the room and leaning against the dresser. Remy opened his eyes and gave her a look that wasn't quite a glare but close. Ivy just raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Look, mate, I don't know if anyone's explained the situation to you, but Rogue is our leader. She's our general, our commander, and above all, our friend. She has given us all a home, a purpose, and most importantly she's given us a family. So we're kinda protective, and when we hear her yelling about betrayal and then tell us that one of her closest friends can go to hell for all she cares, we get worried. Now, either you tell me what happened voluntarily, or I pull the words from your throat by force."

Remy didn't look convinced that the slender girl in front of him could force him to do anything, but then he remembered that Chalice wasn't all that impressive-looking, and neither was Rogue for that matter.

He sighed and brushed Cathryn's hair out of her face, peering down into her wide, shame-filled eyes. She licked her dry lips and nodded. Remy stifled another sigh, and told Ivy what had happened.

Ivy listened to the story with a cold, hard expression, and when she spoke, her words were as hard as ice.

"We need you in this fight," she said quietly, glaring at Chalice. "So obviously we can't cut off all contact with you. But if you _ever_ come near Rogue again, we will kill you." Her eyes shifted to Remy and she just looked at him for a moment before saying, "We've got orders that you are not to leave this house under any circumstances. I suggest you don't try to escape, because we will do whatever necessary to keep you here." Then she turned and walked out, closing the door behind her.

When Ivy retold the sad, bitter tale to the others, their reactions went through a whole cycle of emotions, from shock to disbelief to anger to homicidal. Kar's eyes turned purple and sparks danced along his skin; Selene's fingertips began to glow white; whispers of air streamed from Envee's fingers; even Jamie looked angry, her brown eyes filled with quiet outrage.

Michelle whimpered again, rolling onto her side and curling up into a tight ball. The sound and movement went unnoticed by the Roses, as they each contemplated exactly what they wanted to do to Chalice for hurting Rogue so badly.

Upstairs, Cathryn sat up and moved away from Remy, forcing herself to act like the mature, independent woman she was. She brushed at her cheeks, surprised but thankful to find them dry, and tugged the sleeves of her shirt back down, once again hiding the criss-crossing scars on her arms.

She looked at Remy, unsure of what to say but needing to say something. He was watching her with that eternal patience he always had with her, and she wondered if he was like that with Rogue. From Rogue's stories, she suspected he was often more mischievous and wicked around her, but the Southern girl hadn't been able to hide that little glint in her eyes that said she really valued her moments with Remy.

"You're staring, ma petite," Remy said quietly, and Chalice would have blushed if she was the blushing type. As it was, she just smiled feebly and stood up, stretching and working the kinks out of her back.

"You leavin'?"

"I'm not wanted here, Remy. I'm going back to the club."

"Want me to stay?"

"Yes. Keep an eye on Rogue for me."

"I'll keep both eyes on her."

Cathryn smiled again and walked out of the bedroom. She had the perverse desire to peek into the living room, but she wasn't a masochist and didn't fancy seeing the hard glares of the Roses, so she walked out of the door without looking once.

Above her, the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon, staining the sky with streaks of orange, gold and red. Chalice looked up at the brilliant sunset, closing her eyes as the last touches of warmth faded and left her skin chilled by night. It was oddly prophetic to her slightly melancholy mind-her friendship with Rogue, something she had valued and treasured greatly, had faded and left, and now she was alone.

No, she wasn't, she reminded herself firmly. She still had the club, she still had Remy, she still had friends. She still had dozens of people who needed her help.

But somehow, it wasn't the same.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Rogue ducked down low, twisting around gracefully, and rammed her elbow into the base of the man's spine, making him cry out in pain and fall over. She savoured the mild victory for a split second before jumping backwards, the knife whistling through the air and slashing through her shirt but not touching her skin. The blonde growled and stumbled forward, drink and rage making him clumsy and easily overpowered. It was a simple matter to disarm him and knock him out.

Tossing the knife away, Rogue lunged at the brunette, punching his jaw and kicking his stomach, before chopping at his neck and watching as he crumbled to the ground. There were just two more to go, the cowardly ones who had hung back while she fought their friends. She picked out the small, weedy one and delivered a sharp roundhouse kick to his jaw, following it up with an uppercut, before elbowing him in the throat. He gasped and choked, unable to breath, and joined the others in the land of unconsciousness.

She hadn't planned on the last guy being armed, but he held the gun in a shaking hand, alcohol making his aim wonky, and she looked at him with contempt. She hated this kind of man, all muscle and no brain, thinking he was all big and bad because he beat up a couple of guys smaller than him and because he carried a big gun. He was dressed in the typical outfit of leather and denim, complete with a barbed wire tattoo around his upper arm, and various small scars on his skin, mostly cigarette burns.

Rogue briefly thought about showing him her much more impressive scars, but discarded the idea as idiotic and pointless. Instead, she leapt to the side, kicked the gun out of his hand, and knocked him on his back. She knelt over him on one knee, her own gun suddenly in her hands and pressed firmly against his throat.

If there was one thing Rogue hated, it was weak men pretending to be big, so it was with great disgust that she watched as he began to plead for the pathetic existence he called a life.

She wanted to kill him. She wanted to pull the trigger and put a bullet in his throat and watch the blood well up. She wanted to show Cathryn just what she had turned her into.

After a moment, she slowly removed the muzzle of the gun from the man's throat and stood up, letting out a breath. Despite everything, she still didn't kill without a good cause, and a bad mood wasn't a good cause.

She turned around and started to walk away, holstering her gun. She got three steps before her senses screamed at her and she dived to the side, a bolt of white-blue lightning streaming past her and crashing into a bin. She whirled around, gun in hand.

"You thought you could just beat me up and leave, bitch?" the man said between heavy breaths, struggling to his feet. "I'm a fucking mutant, I ain't no pushover."

"You don't want to do this," Rogue said quietly, gun trained on the spot between his eyebrows.

"Oh, I really do. Maybe if you make it worth my time, I won't kill you."

The offer was crude and predictable, and Rogue didn't even blink as she squeezed the trigger, the shout echoing in the dark alley. A surprised expression plastered on his face, the man slowly went to his knees, falling face down in the dirt.

Rogue looked at the body for a moment, and then walked away, pulling her long coat tight around her body to protect her from the bitter cold wind.

She walked aimlessly, watching her feet as they hit the pavement and not really noticing where she was going. She ended up at the beach, for some unknown reason, and she sat heavily on the sand near the water's edge, staring at the dark waves of the ocean.

The X-Men had had a beach party once, complete with roaring bonfire, loud music, and beer. Professor Xavier hadn't approved of the beer, but after some persuavive arguments from Jean and Scott, had allowed all students over sixteen to get as drunk as they wanted. That decision hadn't proved to be entirely wise, as Bobby decided to try and freeze the entire ocean after his eleventh beer.

But it had been fun nonetheless. Jubilee had provided some fireworks, when Bobby was sober he'd created some very nice ice sculptures, and Tabitha had somehow managed to start a very whacked-out conga line. They'd also played truth or dare, and Rogue had learned a surprising amount of things about her family. She'd had no idea that Jubilee was scared of spiders, or that Sam used to have a pet snake. She also found out that watching Scott sing 'I'm a little tea pot', complete with all the moves, was cause for hilarity.

She hadn't done anything really extreme, unlike Jean who tried to do a striptease after her seventh beer, but she had had fun. She'd participated in the game of volleyball, raced Kitty and Roberto, and even joined in the singing a couple of times. Mostly, she'd just sat by the fire and watched her family let loose.

She missed them. They were weird and had their disagreements, but when push came to shove, they were a solid unit, a family in the truest sense of the word. And they had welcomed her into their world. They hadn't used her or manipulated her, never lied to her or tricked her. They hadn't rejected her for being a freak, for being different. In fact, that was what they valued most about her. They had loved that she wasn't afraid to be herself, that she could look into the eyes of anyone and say, I am me and I'm happy with that.

And now that wasn't true. Now she wasn't happy with herself. Well, not entirely at least. She had accepted who she was, emptiness and all, but there was still that voice in her head, the one that had been there for as long as she could remember, whispering to her about a better life, a life without any powers, a life without any emptiness. Only she knew that the voice lied, that there was no better life for her. She was who she was and nothing could change that.

Her mission was nearing its end. She was so close now to achieving her goal, to destroying the Agency once and for all. After that, she could finally rest. The world wouldn't need her any more, the mutants would be safe and protected with people like Chalice to watch over them, and they wouldn't need a cold-blooded killer.

Rogue looked up at the twinkling stars and let a smile grace her lips.


	21. Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

Kar was on guard duty when Rogue returned. After Chalice had left, they'd decided to take turns making sure Remy didn't try and leave, so Kar was currently standing by the window, watching as Remy flicked through a gun magazine that been on Rogue's dresser. The Cajun hadn't made any indications that he was planning to leave, but the Roses were nothing if not obedient, and Rogue wanted him to stay put, so they'd make sure he did.

The door opened and Kar raised an eyebrow when Rogue walked in, looking a little calmer than when she'd left.

"You can leave, Kar. Thanks."

Kar nodded and walked out, closing the door softly. Rogue looked at Remy and sighed, shrugging off her coat and leaving it on the floor.

"How did you know what Chal and Xavier did?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, next to Remy's feet.

"She told me."

"Why?"

"So I could tell you."

"So you weren't in on it?"

"Non."

Rogue nodded thoughtfully, chewing her bottom lip and staring at her hands. She believed him, he wouldn't have denied it if he was guilty. He would have admitted it and accepted whatever punishment she decided to deliver. She was glad he was innocent, she needed so desperately to have a couple of beliefs remain intact.

"You said you knew where the Agency was located? At least, the part of it that's in Bayville."

"Oui."

"I want you to show me. Now. And then you're going to tell me everything you know about it. And then you're gonna leave."

Remy blinked, he had not been expecting that. He waited for an explanation, but Rogue just continued to stare at her hands. So after a few minutes he gave up waiting and said, "It'd be better to go tomorrow, cher. They have tighter security at night."

Rogue nodded. "Tomorrow it is then." Then she stood up and left. It took more force than she liked to close the door and shut him away.

The Roses were still in the living room. Michelle was half-sitting half-lying on the sofa, rubbing at her temples and looking around half-blind. She whimpered when Rogue entered and huddled down, wrapping her arms around her body. Everyone else was sipping coffee, or tea in Jamie's case, and they didn't say anything as Rogue sat down on the floor in the corner.

"Remy and I are going to see the Agency tomorrow morning," she said quietly. "Jamie, you'll be coming with us. Everyone else, I want you to spend the day training, because if circumstances permit, we'll be infiltrating the Agency tomorrow night. I'll go over the plan in more detail tomorrow evening, but the basic idea is to get Jamie and Selene to some computers so that they can find out where the Headquarters is located. I also want you to pull up a list of personnel in the building, so that I can assassinate every important figure there, just so that there's no chance of escape. This is what we've been working for, people. We've fought, bled, cried and killed for this. Let's not screw it up."

Silence reigned for a moment before Selene said, "Uh… okay. What should we do now?"

Rogue took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall. "Whatever you want. Just… do whatever."

Envee immediately announced a Movie Night. Rogue smiled wearily as Kar and Selene got the popcorn and drinks, while everyone else argued on the first film to watch. It eventually came down to a choice between Scream and Top Gun.

"You've seen Top Gun a hundred times!" Kar complained, settling back down again and putting a bowl of popcorn next to him.

"And you've seen Scream a hundred times!" Selene countered. "Honestly, you'd think you'd get bored of it!"

"Like you get bored watching Tom Cruise? At least Scream has a decent plot, instead of some pilot whose mate dies halfway through the film and about the 'forbidden love' with his instructor-type person!"

"A decent plot? It's all about some pretty girl running around screaming trying to avoid getting cut up by a sicko in a ghost mask who happens to be her boyfriend!"

"Precisely, that's a decent plot!"

Rogue listened to them bitch and argue until they eventually decided on Scream. Move Nights were always eventful, everyone had such different tastes and that led to many arguments, but Rogue enjoyed it. It reminded her of her days as an X-Man, when they'd fought over movies, chores, games and everything else.

A relieved sigh caught her attention and she opened her eyes to see Michelle slowly uncurling from her tight ball, blinking and looking around. Her face was pale, her eyes a little wide, but other than that she looked fine. Rogue frowned, wondering if she should apologise for the pain she had unintentionally caused her friend. Before she could make up her mind Michelle spoke.

"Don't worry about it," she said quietly, looking at her leader with concern. "Just… I'm here when you wanna talk."

Rogue noticed the wording, when and not if, and nodded gratefully. Someday, she would want to talk about this, and the knowledge that Michelle would listen was comforting.

"Oh look, he can fly a fighter jet, he's sooo special," Kar grumbled under his breath, munching on handful of popcorn.

"Can _you_ fly a fighter jet?" Selene asked archly.

"Can _he_ shoot electricity from his hands?"

"Children," Ivy said in a warning tone, and they shut up.

Rogue smiled, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. It wasn't quite the home the Institute had been, but it was close, and at that moment, there wasn't a single place she'd rather be.

-----------------

The building looked very ordinary. Rogue hadn't been expecting a great big flashing sign announcing it to be A Bad Place, but looking at the completely ordinary building was somehow disappointing. Occasionally people would go in and out, and they were perfectly ordinary people dressed in perfectly ordinary clothes other perfectly ordinary people wore to work.

Rogue frowned, looking at it from where she was laying on the roof of a building across the street. It just seemed so… plain.

"Where's the easiest entrance?" Rogue asked in a whisper, and Remy shifted slightly beside her.

"There isn't one, cher. The only way in is through a window, which are bolted shut at night, complete with electronic alarms, and the front door, which gets the same treatment."

"What are the guard shifts like?"

"Two men stationed outside the door from nine to six. One man patrols each floor every half hour, they check each room and secure all the windows. You'll have to be very good and very quick. And some luck wouldn't hurt."

Rogue didn't say anything, silently forming a plan. The guards were no problem, Jamie could probably disable the electronic alarms, if she was able to get a direct link-up to the system, and Envee could take care of any physical locks. Security cameras would be a bit trickier, but if they knew where they were and could avoid them they should be alright. They couldn't just disable them because that would alert the security staff to their presence.

"Alright, let's go back," she whispered, wriggling backwards until she was out of sight of the Agency building and then walking down the fire escape. Remy was behind her, a constant, reassuring presence, and she hated him for it, for the fact that he could still make her feel so safe.


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two

Envee flexed her hands, looking at the thick block of wood several feet in front of her. On it several empty soda cans were perched, glinting in the sunlight. She looked at the one on the very right and stared at it until it was all that existed. She gestured sharply and a small shot of wind hit it and knocked it to the ground. It was quickly followed by the other seven.

"Nice shooting, Tex," an amused voice said, and Envee grinned at Kar. "Can you do the stand?"

"What do I win?"

Kar rolled his eyes and patted his pockets, pulling out a crumpled note. "Five dollars."

"Deal."

Envee turned back to the wooden block and rubbed her hands together. She took a deep breath and let part of it out, stilling her body and focusing on the wood. She flung both hands forward, as if pushing something away, and sent out a large blast of wind.

Or, that's what she intended to do at any rate. What actually happened was that the wooden block remained upright and she was thrown backwards, slamming into the wall and crumpling to the ground.

"Envee!"

Kar's panicked shout brought the rest of the Roses, and Jamie quickly examined the other girl. Envee was unconscious, a small bump on the back of her head, but other than that completely healthy. Jamie healed the bump and waited a second for Envee to stop groaning and fully wake up.

"What happened?" Envee asked, her words slurred slightly.

"You tell us," Selene replied.

"How am I supposed to know? I tried to knock over the wood stand and got flung backwards and the next thing I know, I'm lying here looking up at you guys."

Jamie frowned, checking Envee's pulse and eyes. "You're completely healthy, and I didn't detect any problems when I was healing you. Try using your powers again."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

Envee sighed and let Kar pull her to her feet. She looked at the stand again and shook out her limbs. She glanced back at Jamie, who nodded encouragingly, and then released a wave of compressed air at the stand.

Again, the stand remained upright and Envee was flung back to the house. Luckily for her, Kar and Alistor caught her before she hit the wall, and she sank to her knees.

"What the hell is going on with my powers?" she demanded, and Jamie wandered away for a moment, picking up one of the fallen soda cans and examining it. She looked back at Envee, then at the can, and finally walked back to the group.

"I'd like to do a little experiment, could you walk this way with me, Envee?"

Envee sighed and struggled to her feet. She felt tired, her muscles aching and her eyelids heavy. She followed Jamie to the middle of the garden and looked at the younger girl enquiringly.

"Could you release a couple of balls of air at the ground, please?"

Envee frowned, but nodded. She clenched her fists and then opened them quickly, shooting two blasts of air at the ground. A surprised shout fell from her lips as she was propelled upwards into the air, hovering for a second before falling back down. Only instinct made her land in a crouch, and she sat down heavily, her eyes wide with shock.

Jamie nodded as if she had expected this and said, "I'd like to have Adam run some tests on your blood, if that's alright."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, at least, I don't think so. I have a few suspicions but I don't want to say anything until I have confirmation. Come on, I need to get a sample and take it to the lab."

"Does that mean I have to get up?"

"Yes, Envee."

Grumbling a bit, Envee pushed herself up and followed Jamie into the house, sitting on one of the cold examination tables while Jamie drew some blood.

"I hate needles, you know," she said conversationally, watching the red liquid come out of her arm.

"I know." Jamie withdrew the needle and pressed a small piece of cotton wool over the tiny puncture mark.

Rogue walked in and noticed the small vial of blood Jamie held in her hand. "What's going on?"

"We're not sure, but Envee's powers aren't working properly."

"Will she still be able to help us with the mission tonight?"

"Probably not."

Rogue sighed. "Shit."

"Listen, can I go to bed now?" Envee asked, looking at Rogue with pleading eyes. "I feel half-dead."

Rogue frowned again, sweeping her gaze over Envee's body, which was trembling with exhaustion. "Sure, we'll wake you for dinner."

The thought of food made Envee's stomach churn, but she just nodded meekly and walked out, keeping one hand on the wall for balance. Rogue watched her go and then turned to Envee.

"You have a theory," she stated firmly. "What?"

"I think… she's mutating. I think her powers are evolving. She's showing all the classic symptoms-exhaustion, loss of appetite, I'll bet she'll start getting headaches soon."

"Shit! That could take days! Hell, her body might need up to two weeks to adjust! I do not want to postpone this mission!"

"If you want Envee to be included, then you're going to have to."

Mumbling angry curses under her breath, Rogue left the basement and stormed up to her room. Where Remy was waiting. Just what she needed. One look at his calm, arrogant smirk and she wanted to slug him.

"Why, cher, whatever is the matter?" he asked in a silky voice that usually made her knees weak. Today, it just infuriated her.

"Get out of my bloody room, swamp rat."

"But I got nowhere else to go."

"Not my problem. Get out before I shoot you."

Remy blinked. "Would you really shoot me, cher?"

Rogue hesitated and looked at him. She looked at his lean, muscled body, at his tousled hair, his dark eyes, his wicked smile…. "Yes, Remy. I'd shoot you."

If the answer surprised Remy in any way, he didn't show it. He just stood up gracefully and left, quietly closing the door behind him. Rogue sighed and flopped down on her bed, trying not to notice that it was still warm with his body heat.

Her body ached for his touch, for the comforting blanket of security he always managed to wrap around her. Her mind, however, refused to acknowledge such weakness and dismissed the desire.

If Jamie was right, and she usually was, then Envee would be nearly useless until her powers finished advancing. She'd have a fever, headaches, exhaustion, her body would be in agony if the mutation was serious enough… mutating was not an easy thing.

She could pick locks herself, of course, it was one of the many talents of her misspent youth, but she wasn't as good as Envee. And if they were to destroy the building as quickly as possible, she needed Envee to help plant the bombs. Still, if Envee wasn't there, she didn't have to worry about someone getting caught on camera so much.

So it was a tossup: did she want to plant bombs quicker, or diminish the risk of getting caught? With their assorted powers, they could pretty much fight their way out of any situation, but she didn't want it to come down to that unless absolutely necessary.

There was one other option, but she didn't really want to think about it. But then she realised that she was being selfish, petty and stupid, and forced herself to consider the option.

Remy was an expert at locks. He was probably better than Envee. He knew how to be stealthy, he had a formidable power and a vast array of weapons. He usually worked solo, but also knew how to work in a team. It wouldn't be a good idea to partner him with Ivy, his arrogant attitude would make her violent, but she wanted Ivy on assassin duty anyway, so….

Rogue sighed and closed her eyes. She'd postpone the mission for two days. If Envee wasn't functional and battle-ready by then, she'd substitute Remy in her place. She prayed Envee was ready in two days' time.


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three

Two days later, and Envee was sort of better. She could function, eat dry toast and oatmeal, but if she tried to use her powers at all, she tended to get hurt. Jamie was working with her constantly, trying to get her to separate her old abilities and her new abilities, while still trying to figure out what those new abilities were. She wasn't sure if it was simple levitation, or the true ability to fly, or if there were any other surprises waiting for them.

During that time, the other Roses were always working out, or putting the finishing touches to the mission plan. Rogue had finally admitted that Envee was not battle-ready and had included Remy in the plan. Ivy was not happy about it, she didn't like having strange people in the group, especially such an arrogant, snarky guy like Remy.

Alistor, not used to such an organised day with the Roses, just followed Selene's lead, listening to her as she talked about the mission details while they worked out. He'd never seen her so serious, so focused, the way her eyes gleamed as she worked with the weights, she was completely determined to be in perfect condition for tonight, and to Alistor's eyes, she was completely beautiful.

With her hair pulled up in a high, tight ponytail, small beads of sweat coating her skin, the neck of her small tee shirt sticking to her body, her muscles straining as she moved, the way her body twisted and turned and folded up as she stretched…

Selene noticed Alistor's attention and blushed slightly, looking away. "So, uh, just make sure to stick with me tonight, okay?" she said, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat from her face. "I mean, I asked Rogue and she agreed to let you be my bodyguard while I'm working on the computer, just make sure no one comes and sticks a knife in my back while I'm distracted, 'kay? And when we're walking around, stay behind me at all times, I don't want you to accidentally trip something, and if I say something like duck, or get back, don't ask questions, just do it and I mean quickly."

Alistor nodded, pulling of his tee shirt. "You seem to know a lot about this, have you done it before?"

"Only in practise, Chalice gave us a couple of buildings equipped with the latest technology so that we could train. We knew we'd have to do this eventually, so we've been preparing for it from the start. Though, we originally figured on having all of us go in, so we're having to make some last minute adjustments for Gambit, he's got different powers, different abilities, and we hadn't counted on that."

"Will it affect things that much?"

Selene frowned thoughtfully. "It shouldn't, Rogue says he's a good sneak and knows how to kill, but we're more used to Envee, it changes the dynamic of the group."

"Things didn't seem too different when I arrived."

"Well, yeah, but we haven't done anything major like this since you joined, it's pretty much just been business as usual. Come on, I need a drink."

Draping the small towel around her neck, Selene walked up to the kitchen with Alistor at her heels. Selene grabbed two bottles of chilled water from the fridge, tossing one to Alistor before twisting the cap off her own and glugging it down. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked around, wondering where the others were.

A thump and a muttered curse said that Envee was still outside with Jamie, the sound of something hitting a piece of wood and breaking it said that Ivy was also out there, probably with Kar. Michelle was silent, so she was probably still in the living room meditating. Rogue and Remy would be upstairs, examining the blue prints of the Agency that Remy had managed to procure.

"Okay, this is as private as we're gonna get in this house," Selene muttered, looking nervously at Alistor, who just frowned in confusion. Selene seemed very worried, even agitated, all of a sudden.

"We might die tonight," she said bluntly. "We're going into the Agency and we're gonna fuck them sideways, and they're not gonna like it, so there's a good chance that we ain't gonna survive, and I've been thinking about it and I've decided that if I or you do get killed tonight then I'm gonna really regret not doing this though how I'll regret anything when I'm dead is a bit of a puzzle but I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Alistor nodded, staring at her with a mixture of puzzlement and amusement. Selene took in a deep breath and let it out in a huff.

"Sod it," she said, and took two steps forward to press her lips against his before she could loose her nerve. A muffled sound of surprise escaped Alistor before the rest of his brain, or other parts of his body that seemed to take a sudden interest in the recent turn of events, soon quelled the surprise and he hooked his arms around her slim waist, pulling her against his muscled body.

Selene licked at Alistor's lips, coaxing them open, and she slipped her tongue into his mouth, exploring it, tasting him. Her hands found the band in his hair and tugged it loose, burying her fingers in the raven black strands.

Someone cleared their throat and the two mutants quickly jumped apart, blushing slightly. Kar was watching them with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"Do you want something or are you just being a pain in the ass?" Selene demanded, glaring at him. Kar just laughed and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl.

"I think Rogue said we were supposed to be working out, not making out," he quipped, and then walked back outside.

Selene sighed. "So much for keeping this a secret," she muttered under her breath, causing Alistor to frown.

"Do you want it to be a secret?"

The tone of his voice made her look up, and she was upset to find a growing sadness in his bright blue eyes. "No, Alistor, I don't really, it's just that Envee and Kar are gonna tease us mercilessly."

Alistor grinned. "Then let's give them something to tease us about," he said, hooking an arm around her waist and drawing her to him again. Selene chuckled, she refused to believe that the sound she made was a giggle, and kissed him again.

"If you aren't going to workout, go upstairs," Rogue said wearily, opening the cupboard to grab a couple of protein bars. Selene blushed, but didn't draw away from Alistor.

"D'ya mind, boss?"

Rogue hesitated, and then shook her head. "Tonight we do some dangerous shit, I won't hold it against you if you want some… companionship, just make sure you're ready for ten thirty tonight."

"Will do, boss. We won't let you down."

Rogue frowned at that, an oddly thoughtful expression clouding her face, and she looked down at the protein bars in her hand. Why were they all so loyal to her? What inspired them so greatly? She was a murderer, a cold-blooded sociopath who held no love for no one and nothing. How could that possibly inspire such fierce devotion and determination from a group of people she had moulded into killers? Why didn't they hate her? Why didn't they resent the changes she had wrought in them?

Would they miss her when she was gone? Would they mourn? Or would they understand? Would they stay together without her there? Or would they drift apart like ashes in the wind?

She shook her head, banishing the useless questions to the back corners of her mind, bringing her focus sharply back to the mission tonight. She needed to be focused, determined, deadly, calm…. She needed to be perfect.

---------------------

"I wish I could go with you," Envee said with a sigh. "It's not fair that I have to miss out on the big mission."

"We've still got the headquarters to find and destroy," Selene reminded her.

"Yeah, but I don't like you guys going off into some serious badness without me there to help. I mean, you might get killed and I'll just be sitting here trying to control my powers."

"Don't do anything too hard without me here," Jamie warned, and Envee nodded, turning to look at Gambit. Her expression hardened, and she walked towards him, invading his personal space.

"I'm trusting you to do my job," she said quietly. "If I find out that you sacrificed them to save your own worthless skin, nothing will save you from me. Remember that." The dark, threatening expression on her face vanished, replaced by a smile yet again, as she turned to look at her family again. "Have fun, guys, and be safe, yeah?"

They all nodded and made various promises and joking warnings about not burning the house down, and then they were leaving.

Dressed in black body armour, loaded with weapons, deadly determined glints to their eyes, they moved like a living shadow, something you couldn't quite see but knew it was a thing to cause fear. They had decided to walk to the Agency, so as not to draw attention with a car, and they kept to the alleys as much as possible. They didn't speak, walking in total silence, even their footsteps were quiet. This was what they had been preparing for, training for, waiting for, and their blood was racing with adrenaline, with the knowledge that they were so close to achieving their goal and that they would be victorious. They had to be.


	24. Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

A soft sigh escaped the guard's lips as the light died from his eyes. Discharge grabbed his lifeless body before it hit the ground, quietly dragging him over to the other corpse. Tempus was waiting, a small bubble of shimmering air growing between her hands. She looked at the guards with glowing eyes and threw the bubble at them. It soared through the air in a graceful arc before splashing onto the first guard's body. It compressed, and had it been an ordinary bubble of water it would have burst, but it was directed by Tempus' will, her power, so it just grew in size, swelling up until it surrounded them, swallowing them whole, and they blinked out of sight, out of time, forever.

Gambit was already working on the door, disabling the electronic alarms as quickly as he could. Onix and Animal, being the two Roses with the best eyesight, were watching the windows of the Agency building, while everyone else was watching the street for any passers-by that happened to walk down the street. It wasn't likely, and Michelle had spread a field of anxiety and dread around them, meaning most people would hesitate to come anywhere near them, but it wasn't a certain science and they really didn't need to get arrested for breaking and entering.

They didn't have to worry about being seen from the inside of the building, as the doors were tinted black, nearly completely opaque, just about the only security feature that worked in their favour.

There was a soft click and Gambit pushed the door open, Rogue let a small grin twist her lips, watching as her team slipped quietly into the building before following them, one hand on the door so that it didn't slam shut behind them.

They were in a small, but somehow spacious lobby. There was a large, semi-circular desk in front of them, manned by two guards in black and grey uniforms. They jumped when the roses walked in and reacted immediately, showing that they were well trained. The blonde went for his hand radio, the brunette went for his gun. A psychic blast from Michelle prevented either of them from doing anything other than reach, and they watched as the two guards slumped down.

Walking carefully so as not to be caught on the security camera, they approached the desk. Tempus sent the guards out of time permanently, while Paradox worked on the security cameras. The plan was to just turn them off, but she noticed that they had set up an alarm for that, so instead she accessed the archives and set up a video-loop from three days ago, meaning that what the screens showed was real, just not to date. The best thing was that the computers in the security office upstairs wouldn't even show her tampering, except for a small glitch when she first set it up, but that would probably be dismissed out of hand.

Leaving Discharge at the desk to guard their backs, the others split up into two groups-Paradox, Tempus and Onix headed for the elevators, whilst Animal, Rogue and Gambit walked towards the stairs. The first team would be headed for the nearest computer, on the first level, whilst the other three would split up, heading to various levels to await the names of their targets.

There was a man working in the office, a scientist if the white lab coat was any indication, and he was obviously not prepared for three mutants to walk in. It was also obvious that he was not any kind of fighter, as he didn't even raise his fists let alone reach for a weapon, before Tempus sent him out of time.

There was a computer and a laptop in the office, so Tempus took the computer, while Paradox booted up the laptop. Working to their original plan, Tempus found the plans for the building, whilst Paradox found the employee list, or whatever was closest. When she had found the list, she read out the highest ranking and most important people who were currently in the building, and let Tempus match the names up with locations and assign either Rogue, Gambit or Animal to be the killer.

"Rogue's not gonna like this," Paradox muttered, absently opening files to see if she could find anything important.

"Not like what?" Onix asked from where he was standing in the doorway. He was gripping Stien tightly in his hands, and kept glancing up and down the corridor.

"Mitchell's not here, he's at the headquarters, which means she won't get to kill him tonight."

"Shit. She's gonna be pissed."

"Definitely. I wouldn't want to be the bad guy she meets after she hears that little bit of news, she's gonna slaughter him."

"Be quiet," Tempus said softly, eyes fixed on her computer screen. After confirming that her battle plan was the most efficient, she raised her hand and pressed the small button on the side of her watch. "Tempus to Rogue, I have the names and places."

"Give me Mitchell."

"Negative, Mitchell is not in the building."

A string of harsh curses came from Rogue, before she let out a deep breath and asked for the other names. She took the four most dangerous soldiers, gave Ivy the three other important soldiers, and gave Gambit the four scientists, leaving instructions for the others to kill anyone on sight.

Paradox was quietly confirming that everyone knew where to plant their bombs, cautioning them to do it perfectly or she'd thwap them.

"Alright, silence unless it's important," Rogue whispered, and got back various agreements and acknowledgements. "Let's do this. Rogue out."

Rogue sighed and turned away from Gambit's intense eyes, instead choosing to look out the window. A cold, empty feeling had settled in her stomach, like a few of her organs had vanished and been replaced with icy air. The feel of her weapons against her skin gave her no comfort, the knowledge that this was nearly the end held no solace, because it wasn't the end. Not really. Not for her. Because he still lived. It would never end as long as he was still breathing.

"Cher, we have a job to do," Gambit said quietly. Rogue closed her eyes, Mitchell's sneering, arrogant face looming in her mind. Even if she killed him, even if she slaughtered him and scattered the body pieces, he would always be with her. She would never be free of the memories he had given her, never shed the feeling of humiliation and shame he had forced her to feel.

"Rogue, we need you," Animal said, her voice as sane and reasonable as it ever got when she was in her feral form.

Yes, she was needed, she had a purpose, she couldn't fail her team, her friends, her family. Not again. Not ever again.


	25. Chapter Twenty Five

Notes: BLOOD ALERT! BLOOD ALERT! This chapter contains extreme violence, do not read if you squick easily. Also, no, I am not near the end. Well, not really. I have at about ten more chapters to go, then there's the epilogue, and after that, I'm gonna write the sequel, which should be just as long as this fic.

Chapter Twenty Five

The blood glimmered darkly in the soft light, the fat droplets arcing through the air as the thick liquid spurted from the man's neck, splashing against the walls, the floor, and Rogue's face. A droplet hit her eye, blinding her, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand.

The man's body slowly fell to the ground, his eyes wide with shock, his neck split open like a raw, gaping mouth. The wound was brutal, more violent than necessary, deep enough for Rogue to see the glistening white of his spine. She stared at the body for a moment before kneeling down to clean her knife on his shirt. When the blade glinted a perfect silver, not a speck of red in sight, she sheathed it and walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her. She mentally scratched the name off the list, and headed right, towards her next victim.

Mr. Harry Walters, previously Captain Walters, was on 'prison duty', which meant that he was sitting at a desk, checking that no mutants escaped their cages. He would be with two other soldiers, making this a difficult part of her mission. The reason Walters was her victim, and not Gambit's or Animal's, was his black belt in martial arts, his skill with guns, and his devious mind. He would not be an easy kill.

Rogue was unsure about whether to kill him first and risk having the two other soldiers kill her, or kill the other two and risk him killing her. She was almost certain she could kill one upon entry, provided her reflexes were quicker than theirs, but that still left one soldier and Walters.

It was almost funny, she thought. Normally she didn't care if she died in combat, she just rushed right in and did what she could. She reacted to adrenaline and battle fury, not taking the time to think things through and strategize, but here she was, thinking about how to survive her next fight.

It wasn't that she thought her life was worth preserving, she didn't really believe that she was anything special, at least not in a good way, but she had a family that needed her, and she would not fail them again.

She silently unsheathed the knife on her left forearm and held it tightly. She took a deep breath, let it out, and walked in the door. She moved automatically, her eyes finding one of the guards, her mind making calculations, her hand throwing the knife. It hit him solidly between the eyes, and he fell to the ground, his eyes wide with that shocked expression most dead people have.

The other two were already on their feet, hands reaching for weapons. Rogue darted forward, slamming the heel of her hand into the guard's chin. It wasn't a fatal move, but it would stun him, possibly knock him out, especially when she followed it up with a swift punch to the gut. He slumped to the floor, and she whirled around to face Walters.

His large, meaty fist slammed into her jaw, spinning her around and knocking her to the ground. She gasped, trying to breath through the pain, and struggling against the flashes of memory she'd gotten from him. She felt him step closer, and lashed out with her foot, kicking his knee with enough force to dislocate it. He howled with pain and joined her on the floor.

Rogue rolled out of the way, coming to her feet with her knife in her hand. She wanted to use her gun, wanted to put a bullet between his eyes, but she couldn't risk someone hearing the shot and alerting everyone to her presence, and the presence of her team.

Rogue lunged forward, slashing at Walters' face, but he deflected the knife with his wrist, jabbing his elbow into her throat. She gagged, trying to breathe through her injured windpipe, and scuttled backwards, away from him, the knife lying forgotten on the floor. She swallowed, and it hurt, and then coughed to clear her throat, which hurt even more.

"I don't know how you got in here, bitch, but you ain't leavin'," Walters growled, finally drawing his gun and aiming it at her. "Don't move, or I'll fucking shoot you."

Rogue hesitated for a moment, before deciding not to move. Either he'd come closer, and she could attack, or he'd turn away to call for help, and she could attack. It was a win-win situation. Unfortunately, she'd forgotten the radio clipped to his waist, so he didn't turn away or come closer. He was still crouching on the floor, his dislocated knee preventing him from standing and fighting, so that was an advantage for Rogue, but she did not like the gun. He was too good a shot and had too fast reflexes for her to be comfortable with the situation.

A broken scream, filled with rage and insanity, came from one of the cells, causing two things to happen: Walters' eyes slid sideways for a split second, and Rogue pounced. One hand lashed out at the gun, the shot Walters fired in shock going wide, the bullet burying in the ceiling. Her other hand closed around his throat, fingers digging into his windpipe. They crashed to the ground, and Rogue straddled his waist, one hand still gripping his. She didn't try to grab the gun, as long as she could control the hand she was safe.

It takes a long time to strangle someone to death, longer than the movies depict, so Rogue simply waited until he was unconscious before snatching up her knife and plunging it into his throat. Blood welled up, cherry-red and warm, puddling around the knife-hilt and her hands before dribbling down his neck.

Jerking the knife out of his throat, she cleaned it and sheathed it, before retrieving her other knife from the dead guard's skull. She quickly killed the unconscious guard, before cleaning and sheathing the knife. She moved back to Walters and found the master key, holding the thin plastic card in her hand.

Then she turned and walked towards the cells. Some of the mutants screamed, some moaned, some whimpered, some began to mumble gibberish, and some just watched her silently, huddled in the corners, with their thin blankets wrapped tight around their trembling bodies. Those were the ones who still had some spark of sanity left in their eyes. Those were the ones she could save.

When she reached the end of the long corridor, she swiped the card through the reader on the cell to her right, and stepped inside. The mutant had pale skin and blood red hair, with eyes to match. She was one of the babbling mutants, and when Rogue looked into her eyes, she didn't see a hint of personality. She repressed a sigh, and unsheathed the knife from her left forearm.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, before driving the knife into the mutant's heart. There was that flash of surprise, before the eyes faded, the lids closing, and a look of peace swept over the mutant's face. Rogue might not have saved her life, but she had saved her, and she took comfort in that as she moved on to the next cell.

The mutant was male, ten years or so, with chocolate-coloured skin and slanted eyes. He huddled in the corner, watching her fearfully. Rogue was grateful that he was still sane. She switched the knife to her left hand and held her right out to the child.

"It's okay, I'm gonna get you out of here," she said quietly, looking into his terrified eyes and hoping that she looked sincere. She didn't, she looked a bit scary, but the boy decided that it couldn't be any worse than the cell, so he tentatively slipped his small hand into her gloved one. She smiled at him, surprised that it was a real, genuine, smile, and led him out of the cell. Telling him to wait there, she quickly moved on to the next cell.

It took ten minutes, and by the end, she only had six mutants waiting for her. Blood ran in small rivers of red across the floor, bits of flesh and tissue and organs floating in them. The metallic scent of the blood hung heavily in the air like perfume, mixed with the more sour smell of death that usually meant someone's bladder had failed in a moment of terror. One of the mutants, a girl in her late teens, threw up in the corner, adding the sickly sweet smell of vomit. It didn't phase Rogue, she was used to such things, but it did affect the mutants, so she hurried them out of the room.

After making sure that the corridor was deserted, she herded the mutants into a corner and pressed the small button to activate her comm.

"Rogue to Discharge, report."

"All clear."

"Come to the cells, get the mutants to Chalice then return home. Rogue out." Lowering her arm again, Rogue turned to the mutants and spoke to the eldest, the girl who'd thrown up. "My friend's gonna come along and take y'all out of here, kay? He's gonna call himself Kar and he's gonna say 'sunny day'. He'll have purple hair. If you see anyone that isn't him, you run away, and we'll find you again, okay?"

The girl nodded, and put her hands on one of the children's shoulders. Rogue mimicked her nod and then walked away. She still had a mission to do, she couldn't afford to get distracted now. And yet, she couldn't forget the broken sobs of the mutants she'd killed.


	26. Chapter Twenty Six

Notes: This chapter is dedicated to angyl-devyl for your mile-long review. It was a wonderful thing to wake up to!

Chapter Twenty Six

Rogue frowned thoughtfully, looking up at the ceiling. She needed to put her last bomb in the very top corner, but she couldn't figure out how to do it. There were no chairs, tables, windowsills, anything she could use for leverage. She hadn't planned for that, and chided herself for it. She'd been so focused on the killing parts of her mission, that she'd let the rest of it slid. It was sloppy, and now she was paying the price for it.

Okay, time to see if she was as acrobatic as she really hoped she was. If she wasn't, she was screwed. If she failed here, in this simple, easy task, she would never forgive herself, and that, more than anything, drove her to succeed.

Rogue took a few steps back, and looked up at the corner. She took a deep breath, let it out partly, and ran forward. She jumped up, raising one foot to push against the wall and drive herself higher, bomb in hand, and just managed to slap it in the corner, the tiny feet in its base digging into the wall, before falling down to the floor. She looked up at the bomb and smiled.

Then she turned, and sprinted down the corridor, her rapid footsteps falling silently despite her speed. She crashed into a soldier when she was nearing the exit, killed him quickly, and fled into the night. Her team were waiting, serious, quiet. They would not celebrate yet, would not get triumphant and smug, until the building crumbled. They smiled when they saw her, and Tempus handed her the slim detonator.

"It will implode, right?" she asked. "I don't want to hurt any civilians."

"Trust me, we planned it perfectly," Paradox replied. Rogue nodded and looked at the small black stick of plastic in her had. Then she looked at the building before her and pressed the button.

The sound of the bombs exploding was muffled, and there was no fantastic explosions to mark such a dramatic event, the building merely crumbled down, folding in on itself until all that remained was a pile of rubble. Sparks of electricity danced, cackling and fizzing, from loose wires, and the occasional splash of blood and organs decorated the stones.

The Roses looked at the mess for a moment before turning and walking away. With Kar and Envee both at home, no one was in the mood to make jokes or bragging remarks. They walked in silence, their emotions heavy and dark, but hidden from each other. They would celebrate, or mourn, or do whatever, in their own, private way. Maybe that would involve someone else, maybe it wouldn't. They all knew that, and respected it, because some things just aren't meant to be shared.

Rogue looked at the pavement as she walked, her thoughts tumbling around inside her head, the sound of broken sobs haunting her ears, the stench of death assaulting her nostrils. It was fake, the smells, the sounds, the sights, just a ghostly memory sent to her by her subconscious, but that didn't make it any easier to bear.

It wasn't that she regretted the actual act of killing them, she had saved them in the only way possible, but she did regret that killing them was necessary. If she had just gotten there sooner, a week, a day, even a minute might have made a difference, might have let her save one more mutant. Six seemed like such a pitiful number compared to all the blood, pain and tears that the Roses had suffered for the past year. It wasn't fair, they should have been able to save more. What kind of heroes were they if they could only save six fucking mutants?

Michelle whimpered and fell to her knees, clutching at her head. Two tears slowly ran down her cheeks, falling from pain-filled eyes. "Stop it," she murmured. "Stop it, please. I can't take it anymore."

Jamie had apparently planned for this, because she took a hypodermic needle from her pocket and slipped the protective cap off the end, squirting a small amount of the sedative into the air to get rid of any bubbles. Michelle had fallen onto her side, and was curled up in a tight ball. Jamie knelt down beside her and rolled up her sleeve, pushing the needle into her skin and injecting her with the sedative. It took a few seconds before the empathic girl slowly relaxed.

"Alistor," Rogue said quietly, and it was all that was needed for the tall mutant to pick Michelle up in his arms, letting Selene carry his sword.

Kar was waiting for them outside the house, a small mutant child asleep in his arms. He looked concerned, and then relieved when he saw they were all alright. He shifted the child so that she was balanced more securely on his hip, and ushered them all inside.

"Why isn't she with Chalice?" Alistor asked, sitting down on the sofa and pulling off his boots.

"Started kicking and screaming as soon as I let go of her, so we agreed she could stay the night here. That okay?" Kar turned to Rogue, who just shrugged.

"Sure. Is Chalice relocating the others?"

"Uh-huh, she started working as soon as I stepped through the doorway. The kids are tucked up in blankets on the dance floor, and she is finding them homes as we speak. She had a doctor look at them, and a couple of them are at the hospital overnight, but the others are fine, relatively speaking."

"Good." Rogue nodded and started to walk up the stairs, intent on taking a long, hot shower. Kar spoke again when she was halfway up, and she froze.

"She asked if you were okay."

For a split second, emotions raged within Rogue, crashing together with violent clashes, drowning out all thought, but then she gained control of herself, forcing the emotions back. Her hand tightened its grip on the banister, but she made no other indications of her inner turmoil.

A month ago, or even a couple of weeks, she'd have gone to the club to see Cathryn, to tell her about how the mission had gone and to plan the next big mission, and just to talk, to be normal, to relax after the tension of the night. And a part of her wanted to, she wanted to grab her coat and go see her friend.

Despite everything, she still couldn't believe that Chalice had betrayed her, hurt her, manipulated her. A small part of her kept insisting that it was a mistake, some sort of sick joke, and that she still had her best friend. She felt so lonely with Chal. She still had her family, her Roses, but it wasn't the same. She'd known Chalice for so long, she'd always been there for her, and to suddenly have that gone was… scary.

She knew that it didn't have to be that way, that she could try to bridge the rift between them, but it wasn't that easy. She couldn't forget the pain of betrayal, it was like a constant ache in her heart. She would always remember that crystalline moment when her world had fallen apart, splintered and shattered to lie at her feet like shards of glass.

Rogue sighed and closed her eyes. "Tell her… I'm dealing as best I can." It wasn't the best of answers, but it was truthful, and Cathryn would take comfort in the fact that she had actually given a reply, instead of just ignoring the question.

She quickly pulled off her clothes and body armour, leaving them in a heap on the bathroom floor, along with her weapons. She stepped into the tub and turned on the shower full-blast, letting the hot water pound against her skin, washing away all the dirt and blood she could only see in her mind. Amidst the hot water of the shower, her tears were invisible.


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven

Notes: Remember way back in Chapter Ten where we had a nice chat between Envee and Jamie? Well, I'm going back to that, so if you can't remember it, go reread it. Also, come check out my LJ! There's a link to it in my profile, so come drop me a comment, and if you have any questions, just ask.

Chapter Twenty Seven

They were all sitting in the living room, dressed comfortably in loose workout clothing. As she was still trying to control her new power, Envee was sitting cross-legged in the air, a few inches above the floor. She kept dipping lower, but was so far managing to stay airborne.

Jamie had spread a large map of Australia on the coffee table, and was marking off certain spots in what seemed like a random pattern. Everyone waited patiently, sipping their drinks, until she made a triumphant circle in red marker.

"That's where they are," she announced, and everyone crowded forward to see. The red circle was in the middle of nowhere, out in the Australian wilderness. They would have asked if she was sure, if it wasn't Jamie who had done all the calculations-she was never wrong, not once she stated her conclusions.

"Where exactly?" Rogue asked, setting her coffee aside to get a better look at the map.

"Near as I can tell from what files I've managed to decrypt, underground, in a huge base. I'm still working on it."

"Can you get us the exact co-ordinates?"

"Yes."

"Can you get us inside?"

"I don't know. So far, I haven't found anything that hints at how to get inside, and I doubt these people are stupid enough to just leave things like that lying around. I'm surprised they allowed someone to have this much on their computer."

"If you can't figure it out, what do we do?"

"I'm not sure yet, I need more time."

"Okay. What about the actual base, can you get any blueprints or maps or anything?"

"Again, I've only managed to decrypt about thirty-four per cent of the files, I don't know exactly what I've got. I should be able to give you a full report tomorrow morning."

"Alright, I guess I was being a bit premature. Dismissed, except Envee."

Everyone stood up and left the living room, headed off to various parts of the house to do various things. No one was surprised when Selene and Alistor went into Selene's bedroom.

"What's up, boss?" Envee asked, frowning as she floated a couple of inches closer to Rogue.

"How's your control coming?"

"Alright. I can't go higher than a couple of feet or stay up for more than half an hour before I start to lose control, but I'm getting there. I don't have to focus so much on directing myself anymore, which is good. Jamie says that with time, it should come like second-nature to me."

"Good. Alright, you can go."

Envee nodded, and her brow furrowed in concentration as she slowly floated out of the room. Rogue watched her go and felt a small half-smile curl her lips. Watching as Envee tried to gain control over her new power reminded her of the days when she'd been an instructor at the institute, teaching the new recruits how to best utilise their powers in a combat situation. They'd actually liked her lessons, because they got to destroy stuff and have fun, and though she was tough, she wasn't as tough as Logan.

They also learnt to listen to her after the second demonstration where she'd saved their skins in a Danger Room simulation. It wasn't that they were purposefully disrespectful, you just had to prove that you deserved their respect. They didn't want to listen to you just because you were older, you had to actually be better, be able to teach them things that they wanted, and needed, to know.

Rogue sighed and stood up, absently touching the curving knife scar on her arm from a battle long forgotten. It wouldn't do anyone any good for her to dwell on the past, lest of all her. She needed to stay focused, she was too close to the end to let herself relax.

-------------------------------

Jamie shivered, wrapping her arms around her small body. She could remember, with perfect clarity, the instant when they had slipped out of time forever. She had felt it, like a jolt of electricity through her body and mind, had felt the fine threads of time tremble softly, had felt five of those threads break and disappear.

She could feel them all constantly, those thin threads of time stretching out for infinity, billions of them, could see them in her mind as pale silver lines across a great expanse of darkness. They were all part of a whole, just threads of a larger rope, the rope that wound itself throughout her entire being. It was comforting, that rope, it was like a great big teddy bear, because it was eternal. She could manipulate that rope at will, twisting and bending it, manipulate the very fabric of time as she saw fit, but she had never destroyed part of that rope, never used her powers to kill.

She hadn't really been aware of what would happen, because she had never tested the limits of her powers. She hadn't really killed anyone, she reasoned, she didn't affect life, only time. Sending someone out of time would not kill them, it would just… relocate them, to that empty plane where the rope lived, so that they would exist forever, without really living. Time held no meaning for them anymore. So it wasn't really killing, it was just…. No. She was kidding herself. It was true that she hadn't killed them; what she had done was so much worse. She had condemned them to an eternal existence as nothing. They would exist, but not live, not touch, not speak, not feel, for all of that, every breath, every word, every gesture, it all takes a measure of time to do, and they were no longer a part of time. They would just exist, forever, like statues. That was much worse than just killing them.

Jamie shivered again as a small tear trickled down her cheek. She hadn't cried in years, not since she left her parents' house. She touched the tear and stared at her wet fingertips for a long time, for once not really thinking about anything.

She heard the door open and then soft footsteps behind her. She knew from the way she walked that it was Envee, and she quickly brushed at her cheek, just in case, before turning around to face the older girl, her eyes serious and devoid of emotion.

"Do you require something?" she asked, and Envee sighed.

"I remember, the first time I killed," Envee said quietly. "It was our second fight, before you joined, and we were losing. We hadn't yet become the tight-knit group we are now, we weren't working together, and because of that, the mutant was kicking our asses. Rogue was hanging back, letting us stumble our way through it, teaching us how to work as a team. And, uh, I saw Kar get hit with some form of energy, like icy fire, ya know? And I knew that he was gonna get killed if I didn't do something. So I used my powers to knock the mutant back, and found a large rock on the ground, and I used it to… to bash his head in. Once, twice… three times the charm. I can still see the blood as it poured from his head, whenever I close my eyes. Ya don't ever forget that kind of thing, and a part of me doesn't want to, because that is the exact moment that I realised what my life would be like, and I accepted it."

Jamie wasn't sure what to say. For the first time in her life, words failed her. She knew that the Roses had been in fights before she joined, she was the second-to-last member to sign up, before Gary, but she hadn't heard of the other fights. By the time she came along, the Roses were a nearly solid unit, if not quite as close as they were now. She hadn't thought that they hadn't always been, hadn't theorised that it had taken time and effort for them to learn how to be a team.

Jamie firmly stopped herself from thinking about the actual point to Envee's story, pulling her mind away from images of beaten-in heads and pools of blood. She still didn't know what to say, so instead she asked a question. "Why? Why tell me this?"

"Because I've been watching you, ever since you came back from the mission. It's the first time you've killed, and you killed multiple times without an adjustment period. That's gotta be hard. Only, you hide your emotions so well that no one else has noticed. And if they don't notice, they can't help. They can't comfort."

"I do not require comfort," Jamie said, the lie falling smoothly from her lips.

"Bullshit." Envee sighed again and bent her knees so that she was eye-level with the younger girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're a little girl, Jamie. You're barely a teenager, and you've been thrown into a brutal war. You've had to sacrifice your morals and your beliefs time and again for our cause. You don't complain, but I _know_ you want to. You've officially become a mass murderer, and you haven't hit puberty yet. It's _alright_ to get upset. Just let go. Okay? Just let it go."

All Jamie could do was stare at her. Tears welled up in her eyes ,glittering and creating the illusion that the brown in her eyes was shimmering. She blinked, and two fat tears tumbled down her cheeks. A choking sob escaped her throat, and with it, her control shattered. Huge sobs wracked her body, making her shoulders tremble, as tears coursed down her face.

Envee bit her lip at the sight, and sank to her knees as Jamie collapsed to the ground, wrapping her arms around the crying girl. She closed her eyes against her own tears, and whispered a prayer that this would all be over soon.


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight

Notes: Ah, introspection, how I love thee. This chapter is rather important to how I will end this fic, so please don't just skim it, take the time to really read it. Also, updates on this fic will stop for November as I will be writing for NaNoWriMo, which means I have thirty days to write fifty thousand words of original fiction. I'll be posting more chapters of Caged because they're already written. For more information, visit my LJ.

Chapter Twenty Eight

Rogue hesitated, staring at the door. Half of her wanted to run away, to hide from the moment she knew must happen, but the other half of her wanted to tear open the door and collapse on the floor and just let it all pour out. And that was the point of this whole thing, wasn't it? Half of her wanted one thing, the other half wanted the opposite. The killer and the human being, the sociopath and the woman, the dark and the light.

Rogue took a deep breath and gently rapped on the door with her knuckles. There was silence for a few moments, Michelle was probably trying to bring herself out of a deep state of meditation, and Rogue used the time to gather her scattered thoughts. If she didn't do this now, she knew she would never regain the courage to do it in the future, and she _had_ to get her head clear before they faced off against the Agency; before she faced off against Mitchell.

The door opened, and Michelle ushered her inside. Rogue glanced around the room, noting as always about the contrast in personalities. Kar's side was unbelievably messy, clothes and magazines littering the floor, his quilt half-off the bed, posters coating the walls, and an electric guitar was propped up in the corner. Michelle's side of the room was neat and orderly, with various candles and sticks of incense dotted around to lend it a peaceful, tranquil air. The window was open, making the curtains flutter and letting in the soft sound of birdsong. Rogue liked Michelle's half of the room better, but stayed in Kar's half, near the door.

Michelle sat cross-legged on her bed and waited patiently for Rogue to begin talking, knowing that if she tried to pry the words out of her leader, she would get nowhere. She watched as Rogue paced around for a few moments before finally stopping to lean against the wall. Her arms were crossed over her stomach, meaning that she could touch her gun in its shoulder holster. She was looking everywhere but at Michelle, her grey eyes dancing around the room nervously.

When Rogue finally began to speak, her voice was soft and uncertain, nothing like the strong, confident tones Michelle was so used to.

"I need… I'm all… I don't…" Rogue took a deep breath and let it out in a big whoosh of air. "I'm confused," she stated plainly. "It's like… there's two different people, inside my head. Not the psyches I absorb, I learned long ago to control them, but… two different me's. One of the me's is… the person I was trained to be, the cold, ruthless killer. She'll sacrifice you all in a heartbeat to complete her mission and she won't think twice about it. She doesn't feel, she just thinks. But the other me, is the exact opposite. She's the human, the one that Cathryn and Xavier didn't manage to destroy. She's the one that laughs and smiles and cherishes this family dearly. She wants to protect you all, to keep you away from danger, keep you safe. She thinks with her heart and not her head, letting her emotions rule her.

"And they're fighting, inside my head, drowning out everything, until I can't think or feel or even breathe. One of them wants one thing, and the other wants the opposite. I can't focus, can't think, can't do what has to be done, because one of them wants to sacrifice you, and the other refuses to. I don't know how I can… survive, with these two people warring inside me. I need… I need help."

Her words hung heavily in the air, weighted with anxiety. And though there was no sound in the room except for the two girls' breathing, it was not silence. There was a tingle of something in the air that prevented silence and kept it merely as… quite. A dreadful quiet full of fearful waiting.

Michelle frowned, chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip. She stared at her hands, examining her short nails critically whilst not really seeing them at all. After a moment, she got up and moved to the window, folding her arms over her stomach like Rogue was. The soft breeze toyed with her hair and raised goosebumps on her flesh.

"I have been sensing strange things from you lately," she said quietly after several minutes. "I know I'm not to intentionally read you, but every now and then I have been getting little flashes of emotion, strong enough to break through my defences. They are like little sparks of life from the deadness I usually get from you, and it's been confusing me to no end. You're at war with yourself, that I will agree with, but I'm not entirely sure how to help you. A war is generally fought between two opposing forces, in this case the killer and the human, yet one is usually right and the other is wrong. Which is right and wrong for you, Rogue?"

The question caught Rogue off-guard, and she hesitated in answering. Her first instinct was to say that the human was right, that calling the sociopath the correct person was ridiculous, but then she thought about it for a moment. The sociopath had saved her life and the lives of her friends by killing her enemies, she had protected the lives of mutants everywhere for years. That wasn't a bad thing, was it? The human hadn't done anything like that, but the human _felt_, she experienced emotions and revelled in the simple sensations found everyday, like taking a bubble bath or smelling a nice perfume, and that wasn't really a bad thing either. So which was the right one?

Michelle noticed Rogue's confusion and sighed. "Alright, perhaps I was asking too much with that question. We'll approach it another day. For now let's just stick to the basics. You were trained to be emotionless, to be cold and efficient, but Chalice specialises in genetics, not psychology. She didn't realise that you cannot kill emotion, it is a fundamental impossibility. You can repress emotion, ignore emotion, deny it, but you cannot _kill _it. What your training did was shove your emotions so far back that you, and everyone else, believed it had actually been killed, but it was just hiding, waiting for the chance to break free. You've erected some very strong walls around yourself, but now, with the revelation of Chalice's betrayal, those walls are cracking, and emotions are seeping out, forcing you to deal with your heart, when you're used to dealing with your brain. I know you came here looking for a quick, easy, overnight solution, but I'm afraid that it's not that simple, not when we're dealing with your heart. What you need is to find balance, and that takes time and effort. If you'll allow it, I'd like to walk you through some exercises that will help you."

Rogue nodded uncertainly, and Michelle smiled encouragingly at her. "Good. All I ask is that you trust me, okay? This is going to be hard for you, but you have to always remember that I am trying to help you and that I really do know what I'm talking about. I may ask you to do things that seem silly and a tad childish, but just please do them because I assure you, I have a reason."

Rogue wasn't sure she liked the sound of that, but moved to sit cross-legged on Michelle's bed, opposite the blonde empath who was also sitting cross-legged. As instructed, she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, easily dropping into a light state of meditation. Michelle instructed her not to go too deep into meditation, just enough to keep her mind clear and free of thought.

"Is your mind clear?" Michelle asked, keeping her voice soft so as not to be too disruptive.

"Yes."

"Tell me what you feel."

Rogue's answer was automatic, "I feel calm. Relaxed. At peace."

"No, you don't, that is the meditation talking. Underneath that, what do you feel?"

A slight frown creased her brow as she thought about that for a second, and then realised that she was doing the wrong thing. She stopped thinking, and for just a second, she let herself feel. The answer to Michelle's question came in a wave of knowledge so shocking that it shattered her meditative state and left her gasping.

"Scared," she whispered. "I'm scared."

Michelle opened her eyes and gently asked, "Of what?"

"Of what I've become, of Mitchell, of completing my mission, of losing you guys, of so many things. I'm scared."

For a moment, silence hung thickly in the air, before Rogue jumped up and fled.


	29. Chapter Twenty Nine

Notes: **RaVeNNYC**: Thanks for pointing out that Remy disappeared for the past couple of chapters, I'm just not used to including him. So let's just assume that he was off with Cathryn for a bit, okay? He's back now, and acting just as lovely as ever. Also, I have started to put in a very mild accent for Remy, but only for certain situations when I'm sure of how he would pronounce a word. I don't normally do accents, but sometimes I just have to. Enjoy and review!

Chapter Twenty Nine

It was early evening by the time Rogue returned to the house. Most of the Roses were in the living room, watching a movie. Though, Selene and Alistor seemed much more interested in each other than what was on the TV screen. Michelle, however, was sitting in the kitchen with a large cup of tea. She was fiddling with a length of red ribbon, rubbing it between her fingertips and trailing it across the tabletop.

Rogue frowned at her for a moment, before reluctantly sitting down next to her. She didn't say anything, wasn't really sure what she should say. Michelle ignored her for a moment, before pushing the ribbon into her hand. Rogue's frown deepened as she looked from the ribbon to Michelle and back again.

Michelle remained silent, sipping her tea calmly as if she were the only one in the room. Rogue realised that this was either a test or some kind of experiment, but she didn't know what she was supposed to do. She absently rubbed the ribbon between her fingertips, like she had seen Michelle doing, and blinked when she thought about her nice the material felt against her skin, cool and smooth, kinda slippery like satin.

She blinked and looked at the thin strip of material, examining the soft shade of red. She didn't like red, it was a violent, angry colour, the colour of death, at least to her mind. Most people associated black with death, but not her. No, to her, black was the colour of night, of solitude, of peace. But red, red was the colour of blood, of pain and misery, of crimson tears flowing down milky white skin. Red was a wicked colour and she hated it.

The ribbon was slowly taken out of her hand and she looked up at Michelle, frowning once again. Michelle just smiled and slipped the ribbon into her pocket. She reached under the table, grasping something that Rogue assumed had been placed on one of the empty chairs. It turned out to be a book, an ordinary black notebook. She raised an eyebrow when Michelle placed it in her hands.

"It's a journal," the empath stated simply. "I want you to write in it at least once every day. Don't write about thoughts or actions or anything, write about feelings. Write about what you like and don't like, what you desire and what you fear. Write about how a bubble bath makes you feel, what your favourite flower is and why. Write about what you admire about certain people and what you hate about them. Don't be afraid of sounding stupid or weak, just write what's inside."

"For you to read, right?" Rogue asked, her voice sharp and filled with suspicion. She thought that Michelle would get defensive, but she just smiled again.

"Nope, I'm not going to go anywhere near that book without your permission. It's completely private until you decide otherwise. Now, I do believe they're about to watch my favourite bit of _Deep Blue Sea_, so if you'll excuse me."

Rogue nodded absently, staring at the simple book in her hands and thinking about what Michelle had said. It was a few minutes until she realised that she was being watched. She tensed slightly, knowing that there was only one person who could sneak up on her like that.

"Penny for your thoughts, _cher_?"

"Go away, Remy." Her voice was cold and sharp, yet was utterly devoid of any irritation. Remy noted the tone, and lack of emotion, but didn't comment on it.

"Der a reason you sittin' here all alone instead of hanging wit' your friends?"

"I'm not a fan of killer shark movies."

"_Non_?"

"What do you want, Remy?" No there was annoyance in her voice, and she tightened her grip on her new journal. For a second, there was a heavy silence, and then Remy spoke, in a tone she was not used to hearing from him.

"To talk to you," he said softly, almost as if he were unsure he should be speaking at all. "You never just tell me things, Rogue, not like I'm a friend. Only once have you ever spoken to me as if I wasn't someone you simply tolerated. No matter what I do, you never treat me as if I'm worthy of your attention, but you never actually treat me as an enemy either. I wish you'd make up your fucking mind, _cher_, because I am not going to wait forever until you realise that I am just trying to be your friend."

Rogue blinked. She had not been expecting a response like that, and she wasn't sure how to react to it. She eventually decided to just bypass the decision by not reacting at all. Instead, she got up and left, journal tucked beneath her arm, and never once looking at Remy.

Sitting cross-legged on her bed, Rogue opened her journal and scribbled the date in the top corner of the first page, but then hesitated. She wasn't sure if she wanted to do this, wanted to write down her emotions. What if it hindered her later? What if she got so caught up in feeling that she was unable to act? What if, by focusing on the woman, she killed the killer?

No, she couldn't think like that. She had to have faith, had to trust that Michelle knew what she was doing. But it was hard, so unbelievably hard, to put that much trust in one person. She'd had her trust betrayed too many times, what if this was just another of those times?

Taking a deep breath, Rogue put the pen to the paper and began to write.

__

Remy. Gambit. Mr. LeBeau. I don't know what to make of him, he's so confusing. He pretends to be this suave, sexy, charming devil, and in part he is, but I know there is more to him, that he hides just as much as I do. I don't know why I keep rejecting him, keep pushing him away, when I really do want him to be a friend. But something in me won't let him get close to me, won't let him past some of my defences. I never used to think it hurt him, I used to think he saw the whole thing as a game, a challenge, but just now… I guess he proved me wrong.

He said that he won't always wait forever, and it surprises me how scary that thought is. I used to think that I didn't care about what he did or whether he was around or not, but now… Remy's always just sort of been there, in the background, a constant in my world of chaos. Or he was until the Wars but that's another story. The point is, I always knew he was there, even if I wasn't thinking of them. I'd go for weeks without seeing him, but I always knew he was there, and then he'd drop by and make some stupid comment, just to give me a little reminder. The thought that he won't always do that, that he would leave me, really is frightening.

Rogue hesitated, staring at her words. Though it happened only seconds ago, she couldn't really remember writing them, couldn't remember _wanting _to write them. She was tempted to believe that she had been temporarily possessed (hey, it had happened before), because why in the hell would she included ellipses in her sentences? And why would she say that the thought of losing Remy was scary?

She sighed and began writing again, this time on a completely different subject.

__

I remember the first time I killed someone. I'm not talking about Mystique, because although I intended to kill her, she didn't die, so I don't count that. My first real kill was someone I don't even know the name of. It had been about a week before the first war really started. Jubilee had gone out for chocolate chip ice cream, despite the fact that it was so late. It was her time of the month and it was her comfort food and nothing we said would change her mind. So, I went with her.

A human attacked us, one of those cliché mugger types, only he didn't want our money, he wanted out lives. I tried to fight him, but he wasn't interested in me, and he was at least twice my weight and size, so I was no match for him. I didn't want to use my powers, but if I had, it wouldn't have happened. Still, I was hesitant with my powers back then, and he defeated me easily, flinging me to the side before attacking Jubilee. He pushed to the ground, pulling at her clothes, and I knew he meant to rape her. I couldn't let that happen.

I don't even really remember drawing the knife I had in my boot, it was just suddenly in my hand. I leapt forward and drove the knife into the back of his neck, feeling the blade slice through the flesh and muscle, nick the spine, and kill him. He collapsed on Jubilee, his blood painting her skin and clothes cherry red. She looked horrified, staring at me as if I was a monster. But I didn't care. I had saved her life, maybe saved her mind, and for that, I didn't care what she thought of me.

I think it was that moment that I decided I would sacrifice everything for my friends, for my family. I think I both hate and love that moment. It is responsible for who I am today, not Chalice or Xavier, not all the other decisions I've made, it is that single moment that is responsible. Sometimes I still dream of it. I would say that it is a nightmare, but it's not. It's a dream, a memory, it is dark but not frightening, I am not scared of it. I don't feel anything towards it. I don't think I ever will.


	30. Chapter Thirty

Notes: Because this is something like her third chapter dedication, I am hereby dedicating **the entire fic **(minus the odd chapter that is dedicated to someone else) to **angyl-devyl **because you so deserve it for the wonderful, fantabulous, ego-boosting reviews you leave me! More often than not, a review from you prompts a quicker update. You have kept me writing this fic even when I was sure nobody would like it and that it was crap. You've told me again and again that I have talent and I am actually starting to believe it. I could go on about all the wonderful things you say and do and believe me, I want to, but I think that might get boring so I'll just finish up by saying thank you _so _much, sweetie. It means more than I can ever say that you have the kind of faith (if that's the right word?) in me that you do.

Chapter Thirty

"I've found the exact co-ordinates of the base and know how to get inside, but I don't think we can just yet," Jamie said, sipping her orange juice. "You have to have a security card, a password, and have a retinal scan that cannot be faked. Getting inside is not going to be easy."

"What happens when we do get inside?" Rogue asked, and Jamie sighed.

"I'll need to get into their system first. Their containment cells are not the simple cages we saw last time, they are seriously hi-tech. The only way to free the mutants is for me to hack their system, and quickly too. Now, we aren't going to be able to blow the place up, if we set off any explosives, the entire thing will cave in and I can't predict how large the blast zone will be."

Rogue scowled. "Figure out a way. I want that place destroyed, I don't want anything left."

"Not possible. I'm sorry, Rogue, but they knew what they were doing when they built that place. If we detonate any explosives, it could weaken the ground, possibly even cause an earthquake or two. They're miles from the nearest town, so I admit that the chances of us causing damage is slight, but it is still too risky. Plus, we'd draw the attention of other people. So far we've managed to cover our tracks, mostly because the Agency is so secret and they are undoubtedly helping to keep our little war a secret, but if we destroy half of Australia, and get rid of the Agency in doing so, then we will attract some very unwanted attention. We do not need the FBI, CIA, or anyone else looking into our affairs. I do not have the resources to protect us from them. I'm sorry, Rogue, but you are just going to have to settle for killing every person involved in the project and leave the base alone."

Rogue opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it without saying anything. Jamie was right, they really couldn't draw attention to themselves and she really didn't want to hurt any civilians just so that she could see the Agency flattened. It was petty and childish, an irrational response to completely annihilate that which threatened her and her family. Killing everyone involved in the project was enough, she knew that in the back of her mind, she just had to accept it. As long as she killed Mitchell she would be… well, she wouldn't be content, but it was close enough.

Rogue sighed and nodded. "Alright, we'll leave it there. Now, are you sure that every person involved in the Agency will be there?"

"Yes. I've managed to intercept an email from one of the flunkies who was stupid enough to send said email to the laptop I took from the building. They've got orders to go underground, literally, until they know that the threat is passed, or at least diminished. For the next three weeks, no one involved in the project will go above ground, and that includes the janitors. We'll get them all."

"Good. We'll do it the same as last time with a few variations because Envee will be with us as well as Gambit, but we'll still do some on assassination, some on prisoner rescue. How are we going to get all the mutants out of there, by the way?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet. The Agency have three helicopters and two jets so we'll need something fast yet strong, and big enough for… well, I'll tell you that when I know how many prisoners they have."

"Either way, we're gonna need transportation, a jet probably, and we're running a bit low on weapons from the last mission, we lost three submachine guns, a half dozen knives, and a garotte. I swear if those idiots don't start keeping hold of their weapons I am gonna kick their asses."

Jamie just looked at her, knowing that she was diverting her attention away from the real issue. She was complaining about the Roses losing their weapons so that she didn't have to face the fact that they needed more, and that their weapons supplier was Cathryn. Jamie knew that, Rogue knew that, and there was no denying it.

"I'll send Kar once I know what kind of jet we need," Jamie said quietly. Rogue nodded silently, staring into her coffee mug. Jamie was just about to leave when Rogue's voice slashed through the uncomfortable silence.

"I miss her."

Jamie hesitated at the door, not sure of what to do, but then turned around to face her leader. She wondered why Rogue was talking to her about this instead of Michelle, but didn't voice her questions.

"I miss going to the Pitt and having a few drinks in her office. I miss knowing that I could phone her in the middle of the night and she'd answer. I miss knowing that I could depend on her. I hate that she betrayed me, hate that she lied to me, but no matter how hard I try… I can't hate _her_. I wish I could, it would make things so much easier. I know how to hate, I've perfected the art of a fine, burning hatred. But I can't hate her, I just… I miss her. I want to see her, to try and repair some of what she damaged, but the knowledge of what she did won't let me. I'm torn between hatred and longing and I don't know what to do."

Rogue took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she did so, and held it for ten counts before slowly letting it out. She opened her eyes and looked at Jamie.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Forget it and please don't mention it to anyone else."

"Rogue-"

"I'd appreciate an update this evening on your progress. If you need me, I'll be down in the basement."

"O-Okay."

Rogue shut the door to her bedroom quietly, calmly, but then nearly collapsed against it, the breath rushing out of her lungs. She felt nearly faint, almost sick, completely shocked at herself for revealing those things to Jamie, to _anyone_.

It had been three days since Michelle had first given Rogue her new journal and she had already filled several pages with her thoughts. She tried not to think too much about what she wrote. During those three days, Michelle had also set her several tasks and exercises, and one of them was an on-going task of being 'more open to the people around you'. She had tried, really she had, and she thought she'd been doing pretty well-she'd laughed at a couple of jokes, gone out shopping with Selene, sat down to a movie with Envee, and had smiled at least four times.

She was surprised to find that it was very easy to relax around her team-mates, and then realised that she never really had before. She'd been less tense, less alert, but had never really relaxed and let herself enjoy their company, not like she had with the X-Men. But during the past three days, she had, and she found that they were just as welcoming, just as warm and friendly, as her old family.

Rogue took a deep breath and let it out slowly, opening her eyes even though she wasn't sure when she'd closed them. She walked over to her dresser and changed into her workout clothes-black sweatpants, black crop top, trainers, and gloves. She couldn't wear her gun when working out, and she put it in the holster she'd fixed to her headboard. The holster was there so that if she got attacked whilst sleeping, she had her gun near at hand, as well as the knife under her pillow and mini-Uzi under the bed.

Rogue didn't like going unarmed, even if she was just going down to the basement, but managed to convince herself that she didn't need to wear knives on her arms. That was another thing Michelle had been teaching her, to walk around the house unarmed sometimes, even if it was just for a few minutes. She didn't like it, being unarmed made her feel unbelievably weak and vulnerable, but she understood the purpose of the lesson and tried her hardest. So far, she hadn't managed to go more than fourteen minutes. Hell, she even took her gun into the shower with her, so fourteen minutes completely unarmed was a big achievement in her opinion.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, not liking how easily distracted she was today, and walked downstairs. She grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen before descending into the semi-gloom of the basement. She could have turned on the light, but she always preferred to workout in the dark. She'd spent so much time in the shadows, in the darkness, that it felt like home to her now.


	31. Chapter Thirty One

Chapter Thirty One

_Black, no sugar, dash of honey. Instant coffee is the devil, you have to grind your own beans or it's not real coffee. At least, that's what she's always telling me. As long as it's strong and contains plenty of caffeine, I'm fine. Alright, so it has to be liquid and drinkable too, because that sludge they gave me at the police station was not_ _coffee._

_Her favourite drink is a dry martini, and she has a weird fascination with those little paper umbrella things. When she has lots to do and little time to do it in, she l finds an author she likes, she'll proceed to buy every book they've ever written and read them continuously. Even if she hates the second book, she'll read right through to the end of the series before deciding to not read anymore._

_When she's having a bad day she'll go into the filing room and look at all the pictures that decorate the walls and filing cabinets. She loves that room, and will spend hours studying all the pictures and messages written and drawn by various children. _

_When she's in a silly mood, she'll play hopscotch on the black-and-white tiles in the foyer leading to her bedroom. She refuses to have any two towels the same colour in her bathroom, so she has dozens of towels in bright, cheerful colours. _

_I know all that and more, so much more, because she was, is, my best friend and best friends know these things about each other. But best friends don't betray each otl colours. _

_I know all that and more, so much more, because she was, is, my best friend and best friends know these things about each other. But best friends don't betray each other. I wouldn't, and I'd thought that she wouldn't. I was wrong, though, wasn't I? She did betray me, in the worst possible way, and now I don't know what to do. I still want to be her best friend, I still want hers to be mine, but I doubt her now. I would walk through fire to help her, I would suffer any torture known to man-and I've experienced my fair share of it-rather than betray her. _

_But now, I don't know if she would do the same for me. How can I be friends with someone when I doubt their motivations, doubt their heart? What if she betrays me again? What if I find that I can't trust her again? Trust is important to me, anyone who knows me knows that, but what if she has shattered my trust in her, broken it beyond repair? What if_

A knock on the door made her look up, and she closed the journal before calling for the person to enter. It turned out to be Envee, and she was walking a few inches off the floor. Rogue smiled softly at the sight, Envee was now perfecting her control over her new power and she loved to flaunt that fact. It became tiring for her after a while, but she still preferred to walk or sit on thin air whenever she could.

"Jamie says that she's finished decrypting the files she got and wants to make a report in about ten minutes to the whole team. I was wondering if you wanted Gambit included"

Rogue thought for a moment before nodding. "Yes, whether or not he'll go with us to Australia is still undecided, but I can't risk him being uninformed if we do bring him along. Where is he"

"No idea. I was thinking he might be at the club."

Rogue nodded. "Probably. If he's not, then go to the mall."

"Gambit? At the mall"

Rogue smiled wearily. "Teenagers aren't as careful about their wallets as adults are. Easier targets, easier money."

"Damn pickpocket." Envee shook her head and left, closing the door quietly. Rogue looked at the journal in her hands for a moment before putting it back under her pillow, next to the knife. It struck her as a rather accurate representation of her life-a weapon and a journal to hold all her thoughts and secrets.

-

It took Jamie two hours to explain her plan. The plan itself was simple, get in, kill everyone they met, and free the prisoners. There were a total of twenty eight prisoners, which meant they needed three jets which could move fast and still have good weapons on board. They would all be armed to the teeth, with Envee and Michelle freeing the prisoners. Everyone else would go to the areas designated to them and kill everything that moved. This was not going to be a stealth mission, it would be hard, fast, and brutal. Their biggest problem was how to actually get inside, and it had taken Jamie two days to figure out a way to watch the live feed from a camera on her computer when said camera was set outside a time bubble from her computer. She tried to explain how that was possible, but gave up when she noticed the blank looks from her friends and just told them that it would work.

"…. Michelle, Envee, you have to get the prisoners to the jets as fast as possible and leave immediately, don't wait for the team. The jets I have in mind can carry up to sixteen people, so there will be room for everyone."

"We can't just leave you guys there!" Envee protested angrily, and Jamie sighed.

"Yes, you can. The prisoners are important and if you leave they will be safe. Everyone will be so focused on us that it is unlikely that they will chase you. We will make our own escape on the third jet."

"I don't want to go," Michelle announced suddenly, fear making her voice tremble, and everyone looked at her. She was huddled in the corner of the sofa, arms wrapped around her legs, and her eyes were wide with terror. "Please, don't make me go. I'm scared. Please."

"Michelle, what the hell is wrong with you?" Kar asked, and Michelle frowned in confusion.

"I don't-I don't know. Oh, God, I'm so scared. Jamie, get me out of here!"

Jamie nodded and walked over to the empath, touching her shoulder. It wasn't that they disappeared, because it was too quick for that. It was like you saw them begin to vanish just as you were blinking your eyes, but when you opened your eyes, they were there again. Michelle looked calmer, but still had traces of terror in her eyes.

"Something big's happened," she announced quietly. "I can feel the fear of every single mutant in the country, they're all scared shitless!"

"What could have happened?" Ivy asked.

"I don't know. Turn on the news, maybe we can find out."

Selene grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, switching to a news channel.

"-No information about why the President has made this sudden and unexpected move, although there is much speculation. Rumours of uncontrollable mutants are spreading quickly, but we have yet to ascertain whether there is any truth to this rumour. Once again, President Kelley has declared a state of emergency and has placed every mutant in the country under arrest. Teams of policemen have been to known mutant homes and businesses and arrested all known and suspected mutants. They are to be held indefinitely and there is some doubt that they will ever be released. We go now to James Porter at-"

Selene switched the TV off and they all sat around in stunned silence. Despite all their preparations and constant worry, they hadn't really been prepared for what would happen if Mitchell actually succeeded. They had never thought that the President might listen to him and arrest all the mutants.

"This is unbelievable," Envee whispered, staring blankly at the wall. "I just can't believe it…"

"We failed," Kar muttered disgustedly, staring at his fists.

"Not yet we didn't," Rogue said. "We haven't failed until every one of us is in the ground. We can still stop this disaster by doing our job. If we kill Mitchell and his associates, the President will rescind his order."

"You can't know that."

"We'll force him if necessary. Shit! Someone call the club and find out if Chalice is safe!"

Gambit pulled out a slim cell phone and speed-dialled a number. He waited a second before speaking in French to someone for a minute. A small smile curled his lips and he nodded to Rogue, who breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, we can't wait any longer. We leave in three days, at the absolute latest."

"Someone will need to go see Cathryn and make all the arrangements," Selene said. She was curled up against Alistor, one hand resting on his thigh.

"…. I will."

Everyone blinked at Rogue, except Michelle who just smiled proudly. Rogue ran up to her room and grabbed her journal, flinging it open to the right page.

_I have to be fucking insane._


	32. Chapter Thirty Two

Notes: It's short, but it's all about Cathryn and Rogue, so I guess that's okay. Oh, and I added a couple of paragraphs to the last chapter in Rogue's journal entry about Chal, so if you're interested go read that. Enjoy and review!

Chapter Thirty Two

The club was quiet, the staff preparing for the oncoming night. Rogue had always liked to visit the club during the day and watch the staff as they got ready for the darkness, it was comforting in a way she did not really understand. Now, the building seemed imposing and threatening, making her muscles tense and her hands itch for a weapon. She hated that what had once been a sanctuary for her had become enemy territory, although the pain it offered was not physical.

Shaking her head, Rogue took a deep breath and walked inside. She stepped into the cool shade of the foyer and walked through to the main club. Her low heels clicked loudly on the dance floor, and she nodded politely to the one or two members of staff that she saw. As she passed the square bar, she raised one gloved hand to tap the solid wood with her fingertips, drumming a mindless pattern on the surface as she walked. She loved the bar, it was solid and… well, solid. It had a feeling of personality, of history to it.

The stairs to the upper-level were for staff-only, but she and the Roses were always allowed access, so no one batted an eye as she approached it, and was quickly allowed in by Chal's secretary when she buzzed the intercom. The stairs brought her to the second floor foyer, and she stopped in front of the desk, waiting for the secretary to finish her phone call. She hung up and smiled at Rogue, a bright, professional smile that was completely emotionless.

"Hello, Rogue, it's been a long time. Mr. LeBeau told me you would be coming when he called to check on Dr. Tear's safety. She's waiting for you in her office, go right on in."

"Thanks." Rogue looked at the door to Chal's office and fought with herself to not run away. This was just business, that was all, she was just asking her financer for some weapons and a couple of jets. No emotions, no betrayal, no nothing; just business. Yeah, right.

It had taken Chal three weeks to find the perfect desk, and she had spent a small fortune on it. It had been handcrafted, with a faint pattern of leaves and vines scored into the legs, and around the edges. It looked like it belonged in a large library, which was fitting because her office looked like a library, with bookshelves covering all the walls. The desk was very cluttered, showing what a busy person Cathryn was, with a state-of-the-art flat-screen computer, laptop, printer, scanner, pens, pencils, a stapler and everything imaginable down to a sticky taps dispenser and glue stick.

A couple of very comfy, very expensive chairs faced the desk, not the usual straight-backed chairs offices usually contained, but padded ones that were more like small armchairs, because Cathryn liked people to be comfortable

Chalice was sitting behind the desk, wearing her causal day clothes-jeans, ankle-high boots, and a long-sleeved tee shirt with the slogan 'The Surgeon General has declared that bothering me before I've had my morning coffee could be hazardous to your health'. Rogue had bought her the tee shirt for her birthday, along with a new pair of leather trousers.

She was wearing her contacts, and her auburn hair fell freely around her face. She was smiling, but it was small and nervous, and one hand was fiddling with a pen. Rogue hesitated just inside the door, but then made herself walk in and sit down in one of the oh-so-comfy chairs.

"I need some supplies," Rogue said, thankful that her voice was steady and strong.

"Yes, Remy told me, and I did receive a full mission report from Jamie. That girl's fantastic with all the little details, isn't she?"

Rogue noticed the attempt at small-talk, and realised just how nervous Cathryn was. Cathryn was one of the most social people she knew, she was comfortable talking to anyone about anything, unless her family or past were involved. She felt a slight twinge of… something, sympathy or pity or compassion, something that was a confusing mixture of all of that and yet none of it. It made her want to try and put her at ease a little.

"Yeah, she is," she said with what she hoped was a friendly-ish smile. "She remembers a lot of stuff that even I would forget. She's going to be a fantastic person when she grows up, and an amazing scientist. Now, the weapons I know we need, but she's told me that she would like a specific type of jet and nothing else will do."

"The weapons, no matter what they are, I can get within forty-eight hours, but the jets might be a bit of a problem. Do you have a list?"

Rogue nodded and handed over the small sheet of paper that she'd had tucked in her pocket. Cathryn read it, nodding to herself, and then put it down on the desk.

"I know the jets she wants, they're some of the fastest around and have some pretty decent weaponry onboard, whilst still having the capacity for a fair amount of people. In other words, ideal for your purposes. I might not be able to get them until the end of the week, though."

"We need them sooner. You heard what happened, we can't waste any more time."

Chalice sighed and nodded. "I'll do what I can. I take it you'll want to be able to land safely in Australia and a place to stay?"

Rogue nodded. "Please."

"I have a friend who owes me a favour, and he has a small, private air strip about thirty miles from the Agency. It's a big favour, so if required, you'll be able to stay at his place, and don't worry, he won't mind about anything you do."

"Is he trustworthy?"

Chalice smiled, and it was a real, honest smile that lit up her eyes. "That's like asking if Remy is trustworthy."

"Ah, right. Well, lemme know tonight how soon you can get my stuff, yeah?"

"Sure. How're Selene and Alistor doing, by the way?"

Rogue's lips twitched in what might have possibly been a wry smile. "They can't keep their hands off each other. Been a while since I saw the kind of emotion they show each other."

"Love?"

Rogue thought about that for a second. "Maybe. I'm not exactly the best expert on the subject. Anyway, I've got to go."

She was at the door, her hands on the handle, when Chalice spoke again. "Rogue? I'm…. I'm sorry that I betrayed your trust in me."

Rogue was silent for a long, tense minute, a thousand thoughts pressing against her mind, wanting to be voiced. Eventually, she sighed, bowing her head so that her hair slide forward and hid her face. She said the only thing that really summed up the entire, painful mess. She said the one thing that had succinctly explained just why she was hurting so badly. She didn't want to stand there and wax eloquent about her pain, so she said the only thing she could.

"So am I."


	33. Chapter Thirty Three

Notes: Apologies for the long wait, my muse was off on holiday.

Chapter Thirty Three

The Roses were tense. Every day, the watched the news with fearful expressions, listening to the grim reports as more and more mutants were arrested. The list went from the hundreds, to the thousands, and the number of mutants killed during capture was depressingly high. Twenty-four hours after the President's statement, and it was estimated that only one per cent of mutants remained free.

Most of them had fled to Chalice's club, seeking refuge in what was commonly referred to as the mutant underground. She hid them, risking her own safety many times, and still managed to remain hidden from the authorities. She no longer stayed at her club, it had been raided already by the authorities, and her staff sent her the desperate mutants. She had reluctantly contacted her uncle, Sebastian Shaw, and, to her great surprise, he agreed to help her.

The Roses were relieved that they didn't have to worry about the other mutants, and instead focused on their up-coming mission. They spent most of their time working-out, and practising with their weapons. They rarely left the house, not wanting to run the risk of someone recognising them and outing them as mutants. When they weren't training, they were going over the information Jamie had managed to gather. They all made sure to get plenty of sleep and eat good, nutritious food, even Kar and Envee.

After two days, the mood in the house had sky-rocketed from tense to suffocating. It wasn't just the pressure of the mission, it was that they had all been cooped up for too long with no release. Envee, especially, was being a problem, as she had just gained control over her new power and wanted to go out flying. She was also getting restless, she wanted to have fun, and in Envee-speak that meant get in a bar fight. When she threw a glass across the room at dinner, Rogue decided that enough was enough. After dinner, she called a meeting and looked at them for a moment.

"We leave tomorrow morning at eleven sharp," she said, looking at her Roses. "I don't have to tell you how important this is, and we all have to be at our best. But I know you guys, and I know that you don't reach your best by solid training and not leaving the house. So, tonight is yours. Go out, have fun, get in fights-" she threw an amused look at Envee, who grinned back. "You can do what you want, forget about tomorrow, just make sure you're ready to go at eleven. Getting at least three hours sleep would be appreciated, but I know you guys can function on less. So go, scram. Enjoy tonight because… well, it might be your last."

Envee chuckled. "And with that motivating speech, let's go!" She jumped up and flew out the open window, twirling around as she gained height.

"That girl's hopeless," Selene muttered, standing up with Alistor. She looked at him and smiled, slipping her hand in his. "Walk?"

"Sounds good."

They left, and were soon followed by Ivy, who wanted to go out and have fun in the nearby woods, and Jamie, who wanted to go to the library. Kar went off to do whatever it was he wanted.

Rogue watched them leave, thinking about how unique and indivudal each of her Roses were, and yet how they all fit together faultlessly. A bunch of misfits, a group of people with very different personalities, who melded together to become an unbeatable team of powerful fighters. And more than that, they were friends. In another universe, a world where they weren't Dark Roses, they probably wouldn't have given each other two seconds. And yet, the experiences they shared, the responsibilities they carried, forged a bond between them that was stronger than concrete. If any one of them was in trouble, they would all risk their lives to save that person. Even Ivy, though she wouldn't admit it, would willingly risk her neck for her teammates. She was proud of that, proud of her Roses, and she hoped that she wouldn't fail them.

-

She'd never meant to hurt Rogue. Rogue was her best friend, a woman she respected and valued greatly. She was so honoured to be the auburn-haired girl's friend, honoured that she was trusted with seeing the real her. But… she'd thought she was doing the right thing.

Okay, she hadn't, she'd known it was wrong, known that Rogue would hate her for it, but she'd had to do it. Every mutant in the world depended on her success, depending on her not flinching in the face of death. And so she'd done what she had to, had betrayed her friend and destroyed the trust they had built between them. She regretted it, yes, she'd do anything to repair the damage, but she wouldn't change what she had done. It had been necessary, and she still believed that it was.

Chalice sighed and pushed her streaked hair out of her eyes, staring at the folders before her. She was tired, she hadn't slept since the President had made his declaration, and there was still so much that needed to be done. She had to find all the mutants that were still free, get them some place safe, try to get a few of her people into where the captive mutants were and ensure that things weren't too bad, had to get the things that Rogue needed, had to make the final arrangements with her friend in Australia, and on top of it all she had to deal with her Uncle at the same time.

There was a headache starting right between her eyes, a small, pulsing ball of pain that promised to become truly irritating as time went by. She let her pen slip from her fingers and pressed the heels of her hands against her closed eyes. She was way too stressed at the moment, she needed a vacation, a long one, a quiet island somewhere with no one around for miles. Mmm, that sounded nice. Alas, duty called and she picked up her pen again, opening the nearest folder and scanning its contents.

A mug of coffee was placed next to her elbow, the rich smell immediately getting her attention, and she looked up to smile at Remy.

"You work too hard, cher," he said quietly, watching her with serious eyes.

"Yah, but this needs to be done. Thanks for the coffee."

Remy smiled and shrugged one shoulder before moving to stand behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders, just resting them there for a moment before he began a very gentle, very relaxing massage. Chal groaned, letting her eyes drift shut as the Cajun slowly worked at the tension in her body.

"You have the hands of a god sometimes, Remy," she murmured tiredly, and heard him chuckle.

After a few minutes, she shrugged his hands off and opened her eyes. She reached out and took a grateful sip of her coffee and looked at Remy again.

"I gotta get back to work. But… don't go too far, okay? Might need those hands of yours again later."

Remy winked at her and left the room, quietly closing the door.


	34. Chapter Thirty Four

Notes: This is just a little chapter to reacquaint myself with the characters, which I will continue to do in the next chapters because they've evolved quite a bit since I first began this fic.

Chapter Thirty Four

They boarded the plane in silence, gripping their bags tightly in their hands. There was no flight attendant to help them and show them to their seats, just a pilot waiting patiently in the cockpit. Chalice had said it was easier to have the jets waiting for them in Australia, and they agreed as they didn't want to attract any unwanted attention, so they were using Cathryn's private jet.

Rogue walked straight to the back end and flopped down in one of the nice, comfy chairs, dropping her bag in the chair next to her. She didn't bother to check things out with the pilot, leaving that to Michelle and Jamie. She was tired, not physically but mentally. Ever since she'd met with Chalice, she couldn't think of anything else. She knew that she should be more focused, that they were going into a dangerous situation and that she shouldn't be thinking of such trivial things except… it wasn't trivial. Her relationship with Cathryn, or lack thereof, was nearly as important to her as stopping the Agency.

Rogue sighed and leaned her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She had to be more focused, more alert. Really, it was beyond stupid that she was just so… relaxed when she was going into enemy territory for the biggest fight of her life to date. She shouldn't have just left things to Michelle and Jamie, she should have talked things out with the pilot herself, personally checked the safety of the plane, ascertained that things were safe for her team.

A touch on her shoulder startled her and she automatically drew and aimed her gun, instincts kicking in. She instantly bereted herself for the move, not that she had drawn her gun on Jamie but that her instincts had been _required _to kick in. She really was too distracted.

She sighed again and holstered her gun. "What is it, Jamie?"

"Everything's green with the pilot, do you want us to take off?"

Something inside her wanted to say no, that she wasn't ready, and she frowned at that for a moment. She shoved the voice to the back of her mind and nodded silently. Jamie hesitated but then walked back towards the cockpit, leaving Rogue to sort out her thoughts.

The problem was, she realised after a moment's thinking, that her mind was too cluttered. She had too many thoughts and ideas bouncing around inside her skull and that was something she had learned was easily fixed. With a small smile curling her lips, she dug around in her bag until she found her journal. She sat with her legs tucked underneath her, not caring that she should be sitting normally and seat-belted because they were about to take off, and started scribbling down whatever thoughts crossed her mind.

She ended up covering three and a half pages with her messy scrawl. She didn't know what she wrote and knew that if she read it now, it would defeat the whole purpose of clearing her mind. Maybe later, when she'd finished her mission, she'd read it and find out what her subconscious had written, but she doubted it. she hadn't read half of what she wrote and knew that it wasn't important if she did. The point of the journal was to get the thoughts out of her mind, that was all.

By the time she put the journal back in her bag, they were high in the air and on their way to Australia. The tension hadn't eased, though, and nobody was really talking, but that wasn't surprising. Envee was trying to start a game of poker but it was a half-hearted attempt and she soon gave up, slumping down in her seat and tugging at the edges of her fingerless gloves. She hated the heavy feel of the air, hated the quiet and the worry, but for once, she was at a lost as to how to lighten the mood. She really, really hated that.

Michelle was sitting towards the back, eyes closed and hands resting lightly on her knees. All the Roses knew that she was meditating, strengthening her mental defences, and so left her alone. They knew how hard she worked at keeping her sanity, how difficult it was to keep other people's emotions out of her heart and didn't envy her power. Migraines, nightmares, mood swings that weren't her own, empathy was one of the mutant powers that came with an unending stream of fine print. Back at their house, she had an entire drawer filled with tablets and pills, bags of herbal tea and smelling salts, soft music and scented candles, anything to help combat the negative emotions that bombarded her senses almost constantly.

Ivy was sitting by herself, one hand rubbing at her stomach, fingers tracing the scars that marred her skin. They were old scars, she'd made them when she was thirteen and upset. Though, upset was rather a bold understatement as she'd just attacked her family after morphing for the first time. Consumed by guilt and despair and anger and disgust, she had turned on herself, slicing up her stomach and legs. She'd healed, but the scars remained and she found that she was oddly fond of them. They were marks of how far she had come, how much control she had gained over herself, and her mutation. She wasn't that crazy young girl any more, wasn't ruled by the beast within her, and though she did have moments where she reverted to her old self, she always came back to who she was now.

She jumped when Kar suddenly threw himself into the seat next to her, flicking his hair out of his eyes so that he could look at her. She raised an eyebrow, fighting the urge to lean backwards. He was invading her personal space in a serious way and they both knew it, but she wouldn't be the one to give in. It was a battle of wills, albeit a small one, and she was determined to win. It took a few more seconds than she would have liked but Kar did lean backwards, resting his elbow on the arm rest and grinning at her.

"Did you want something?" she asked, and he shrugged.

"Not really."

Ivy frowned, debating whether or not to push the issue, but eventually decided it wasn't worth it and just stared out the window. Kar smiled.

Rogue studied each of her Roses for a few moments before she had to admit that she was stalling. There was one thing she had to do before they landed but she really didn't want to do it. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and walked to where Remy was sitting. He appeared to be sleeping but she knew better and just stood there until he opened his eyes and smiled lazily at her.

"Did you require something, ma cherie?"

Rogue ignored the nickname and the honeyed tones, crossing her arms over her stomach and schooling her expression into blank seriousness. "Yeah, to talk. This mission is important and I don't want to have to worry about you. I want you to promise me to behave, none of your tricks or jokes, none of your bullshit and arrogance, just complete your assignment and get out, quick. Got it?"

Remy just looked at her for a moment and she could see the thought lurking in his onyx eyes to disagree, to ignore her words and be his usual, reckless self, and she worried for a moment that she'd made a mistake in including him. But then the thought disappeared from his eyes and he smiled, not one of his usual suggestive smirks or wicked grins but a real, genuine smile, and he bowed his head.

"As my lady commands."

Rogue rolled her eyes at that and returned to her seat, unable to stop the small smile that toyed with the edges of her lips.


	35. Chapter Thirty Five

Notes: Sorry for the long wait, my inspiration has been fixed on my other fics for reasons unknown to me, you'll have to ask my muse. Also, I'm sorry that my scene breaks keep changing but ffnet keeps deleting the ones I used to use.

Chapter Thirty Five

The first thing the Roses saw when they stepped off the plane was a small, thin man dressed in grubby beige shorts and a tank top that had, at some point, been white. He was barefoot and drinking beer from a can, grinning at them with a look that was not entirely trustful. Ivy glanced at Rogue, not liking the air of wickedness that hung around their host like smoke.

"Cathy said you guys would be serious but, God, could one of you crack a smile?" the guy asked, walking forward and offering his free hand to Rogue. Rogue just looked at him until he dropped the hand and shrugged. "Suit yerself, ain't no skin off my nose if'n ya wanna be all serious-like. Yer jets are over there and the house is this way, follow me."

They all glanced at the three jets waiting at the far end of the hanger and then followed the man outside into the oppressive heat. They all squinted in the sunlight, looking around at the very empty landscape. The only thing that they could see was a small wooden shack that looked like a strong gust of wind might cause it to collapse. Ivy snorted, not needing to actually say anything, and Rogue frowned, wondering just how they were all supposed to fit in there when it looked to be no bigger than a toilet.

"Me name's Mark, by the way," their host called over his shoulder, taking another glug of his beer and belching. "I know a couple o' your names but ain't interested, really. Jus' don't gimme too much hassle and you can do what you want 'til you leave. Well, welcome to ma humble abode."

The Roses stepped inside the shack and gaped. They were standing in an impressive lobby with a black-and-white marble floor and a large staircase before them. To the right was an archway leading into some sort of lounge area, and to the left was a dining room that looked like it could fit fifty people for dinner and still have room left over.

Mark chuckled at their reaction and when they turned to look at him, he was not the same person he'd been outside. He was taller and more lean, dressed in clean jeans and a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. A silver chain caught the light from the crystal chandelier above them, as did the stud in his left earlobe. His hair was a soft shade of brown with a little grey at the temples that made him look more distinguished than old. He tossed the beer can into the bin by the door and smiled at them cheerfully, making little laugh lines appear near his eyes and mouth.

"You're a mutant," Selene said, looking around at their surroundings. "You… bend reality or create illusions or something."

"Mixture of both, actually," Mark replied and his voice was a little deeper than before with no hint of an accent. "Sorry about the little ruse outside, it wasn't anything personal, just standard business. When you live as close as I do to such bad guys you have to take certain steps to protect yourself. And before you ask, no, they didn't see your jets arrive or their pilots leave, I took care of that. Jamie, the security room is upstairs and the first door on the left, you can plug your laptop in and check things out. Michelle, aspirin is in the kitchen which is through there, cupboard next to the fridge, top shelf. Anything else?"

"Food," Kar said. "I'm starving."

"If you can find it, you can eat it. Now, I'm tired, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning, or not." He raised his hand in a sketchy wave and walked up the stairs, humming quietly under his breath and leaving his guests standing in the lobby in various stages of confusion, amusement and surprise.

"Cathryn does know the most interesting people," Alistor murmured after a minute and Selene snorted.

"That's certainly true. C'mon, let's check out the kitchen."

Most of the Roses went in search of food, or aspirin in Michelle's case, whilst Jamie went up to the security room, leaving Rogue on her own. She stood in the lobby, arms folded across her stomach, fingers brushing the butt of her gun, and tried to shift mental gears. It was harder than she thought it would be, to adjust to the fact that she was here, in Australia, just thirty miles from the Agency. All the months of hard work, the fighting and the struggles, the blood and the pain, it was all reaching its apex. This was what she had been working so hard for, what she had been aching and hurting for.

One way or the other, it would all be over in a couple of days. The mission could go two ways: she could get killed, in which case everything would most definitely be over, or she would win, she would destroy that Agency and then convince the President and then… then what? This had been her life for so long, ever since the war had first started, she had lived and breathed this mission. To have it suddenly be over… she didn't know what she'd do. She remembered her decision to rest after she had one, to finally lay down her sword and sleep, but she knew now that she couldn't do that. She couldn't abandon her family. But that still left the question of just what the hell she was going to do. Of course, that was presuming she lived through the week, which was doubtful. That was oddly comforting.

(0)

Rogue easily found a bedroom and set her bag on the bed, not bothering to unpack. She rolled her neck, shrugging her shoulders, trying to ease the tension building there. She thought about a shower but first wanted to know that the place was secure before allowing herself to be so vulnerable so decided to check with Jamie first. As if on cue, Jamie walked into the room with a slightly worried expression. Rogue didn't like that and knew instinctively that it was bad so she sighed and gestured for the girl to speak.

"The Agency have a large camera network monitoring the area around the base. If we fly the jets within ten miles of the place, they'll shoot us down. Our plan just got shot through with holes."

"Shit! How did you not see them before we arrived?"

"I suspected that they were there, as I told you, but couldn't locate them. I was planning to hack the system and take them out, but I can't, they are tied directly into the Agency's main system and I can't hack it. I'm sorry."

Rogue sighed heavily, biting her lip against more useless ranting and swearing, although she did allow herself one more 'shit' before forcing herself to think like she was supposed to. "Do you have a Plan B?"

"Well… maybe."

Rogue frowned at the hesitation, Jamie was not a person to speak when she was unsure. She either spoke with confidence, or she remained silent. In all the time she'd known the young mutant, she couldn't remember a single time when Jamie had hesitated in her speaking. Even at the beginning, when she had first found introduced Jamie to the Roses, she had been calm, a bit shy but still confident.

"What is it, Jamie?" she asked, surprised by the soft tones in her voice. Jamie sighed and sat down on the bed, not looking at Rogue.

"The only way I can think of to do accomplish this mission is if we walk there, in a time bubble. Then, I can gather the prisoners and take them out in another bubble. If I take Selene with me, she can fly a jet there and pick you all up. I'll be exhausted, especially creating a bubble around so many, but I should be able to drop it after fifteen or so miles. If we take enough provisions and supplies, it's feasible."

"You can't expect those mutants to walk thirty miles."

"We can take it slow and, speaking in real time, I can hold the bubble for about a week. If we average five miles a day and have Mark pick up some of the younger mutants in a car and drive them the rest of the way, it is manageable. We'll all be tired, and I doubt I'll be able to use my powers for a couple of days afterwards, but I just can't see another way. Besides, I've been wanting to test my limits for a while now and this is a good opportunity to do that."

Rogue was silent for a long time, thinking about that plan. She wasn't concerned so much with the other mutants, but for her team-mate's safety. Jamie had never tried to maintain so large a bubble over such a long period. She was worried that it would be too hard, that the girl wouldn't be able to handle it. She had seen what happened to some mutants who over-used their powers. The lucky ones had, eventually, been able to live as normal lives. The unlucky ones… well, it was either cardiac arrest or a life-long coma and breathing with the aid of several machines. She didn't want that to be Jamie's fate.

"I can handle it, Rogue," Jamie said quietly, perhaps guessing what fears were running through her leader's mind. Rogue looked at her, biting her lower lip.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Then okay. Tell the others."


	36. Chapter Thirty Six

Notes: I am sorry for the long wait, but these are hard chapters to write. Seeing as I'm writing this almost exclusively now, the updates should be fairly quick, no more than two weeks going by without a new chapter. There's about five more chapters to go and then, I'll be writing the sequel.

Chapter Thirty Six

Jamie took a deep breath, dragging the hot Australian air into her lungs and holding it there for a second before slowly releasing it. Her skin was itching, tingling, little invisible sparks of power dancing over her body as she summoned every iota of power she'd ever had and willed it into a small ball between her hands. She'd never attempted anything this big before, never tried to sustain a bubble for so long around anyone but herself. She could feel her team mates watching her, carefully, but tried to shut them out. She couldn't think about them, couldn't think of the responsibility being placed on her, couldn't think of the fact that the Agency was just a dozen miles away.

Rogue had decided that they should walk in normal time for as long as possible, to conserve Jamie's strength, but it meant that they had lost a day and a half and that knowledge ate at them all. They wanted to get there, now, to get this whole thing over with, to end it all, and to do that, they needed Jamie, needed for her to be better, stronger, tougher, than she'd ever been.

Jamie flicked her hands and felt the bubble fly outwards, spinning and shifting and morphing until it encompassed them all, cutting them off from real time. She let out the breath she'd been holding and looked at her friends, noting the concern in their faces. She smiled slightly and began walking, hoisting her bag higher onto her shoulder.

"So I'm still not sure how this is gonna work," Kar said after a moment of walking in silence. "I mean, I thought the rest of the world stopped while we're in here, so how…"

"You know you get a headache whenever I try to explain," Jamie said, and Kar scowled at her.

"Use little words."

Jamie chuckled. "Alright. Right now, it's not that the world is stopped, it's that we're not a part of the world, or at least not part of its timeline. When we get to the Agency, I'll put us into 'half-time' so that we will exist, but only in the second half of every second. We won't be visible and what we see will sort of look like… a flickering television screen, jerky and talking gibberish, but it'll be enough for us to see someone entering or leaving. When that happens, I'll put us back into real time and we'll attack. Of course, that is really simplifying it but you get the general idea."

"No," Kar sighed, "Not really. But if you say it'll work, I trust you."

Jamie looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks, Kar."

(0)

The Roses never really tried to keep track of how long it took them to reach the Agency. The sun hung motionless in the sky, beating down on the landscape around them but never giving any heat. They slept in fits, snatching a few 'hours' every now and then, but it was increasingly difficult to relax. They'd never spent so long inside a time bubble and they were finding that it was slightly creepy, to move through a motionless, silent world where nothing affected them and they affected nothing.

They paid a lot of attention to Jamie, noticing with frowns of concern how her feet dragged and her eyes began to flicker with honey brown flames. They'd never seen that before and she explained wearily that it was because she was using up more and more power, burning energy with every step. She assured them that once she shifted them into 'half-time' she would be able to get more rest and if she ate enough, she should be alright, but it didn't stop them from worrying, or Alistor from carrying her occasionally so that she could rest in his arms and save her energy.

By the time Jamie finally called a halt, they were all feeling the strain. They had fallen into a tense silence for the past couple of miles, barely looking at each other, much less talking. Rogue was walking ahead of them as much as the bubble would allow, barely more than a foot yet giving the distinct impression that she was in a completely different world. The Roses knew not to bother her, even if they wanted to, which they really didn't. Instead, they just let her walk, each working through their own thoughts and trying to comprehend what they were about to do.

They settled down, apparently in the middle of nowhere, and Jamie struggled to remain upright, staring at her hands as she raised them to chest level, cupped inwards. She licked her lips, focusing on her hands, channelling her power down her arms and out through her palms. Her fingertips tingled and a droplet of sweat rolled down her forehead. A faint whimper escaped her and she let out a ragged breath, flicking her fingers outwards in a quick, violent motion.

The air around them crackled and shifted for a split second before settling back down in a way that was only slightly different from before, yet decidedly weirder. There was a faint breeze in the air, barely enough to be stir the sparse patches of dry grass on the ground, only it wasn't always there, it kept flickering on and off, there one moment but gone before it could really be felt, only to reappear the next moment and repeat in an endless cycle.

Jamie collapsed backwards, staring up at the sky with tears of exhaustion sliding down her face. Selene was instantly at her side, stroking her hair and wiping away her tears, mumbling absolute nonsense in the way that everyone does when they're trying to be comforting.

Rogue sat down a little way away from the others, one elbow resting on her knee with the other leg stretched out before her. She had her head titled, looking at the clear expanse of blue sky with sad, unfocused eyes. Despite her relaxed position, every muscle in her body was thrumming with tension, and her mind was buzzing with the knowledge that this was so nearly finished. She was here, with her team, at the Agency, about to go in and slaughter everyone.

"You're a great team," she said, her voice hoarse and her accent thick. "It's been an honour and a privilege to know you and work with you. You're my family, and I love you all. I hope we all make it out of this alive, but if not…" She sighed, bowing her head so that her hair masked her face for a moment before she gave herself a little shake and looked sideways at her team, with a coy little smile curling her lips. "We're gonna kick their asses," she declared firmly, and the others laughed lightly before bowing their heads in acknowledgement.

Rogue nodded and looked up at the sky again, letting out a slight breath and feeling a small thread of tension uncoil itself from between her shoulder blades.


	37. Chapter Thirty Seven

Notes: Alright, so this is the mission bit. I've never been great at writing missions so please give me your honest opinions of this, and the following, chapters.

Chapter Thirty Seven

Though they weren't exactly the best judges of time, the Roses estimated that they'd been waiting for approximately before a low, rumbling sound started to become apparent, flickering on and off in the manner that they'd long since become accustomed to. They all stood up, reaching automatically for weapons or, in Kar's case, creating a fizzing ball of electricity.

A thin line began to appear on the ground, spreading out like a shadow. They stared at it as it grew, both in length and width. After a moment they realised that one side of the shadow was a fraction higher than the rest of the ground.

They watched, feeling tension and adrenalin flood their bodies, as the large ramp raised itself from the ground, revealing a broad metal walkway half-hidden in shadows. A military jeep was slowly making its way towards them, holding three soldiers.

"Rogue?"

Rogue waited, feeling her breath hitch in her throat a little, until the Jeep was half into the sunlight. Then she blew out an explosive breath and nodded. Selene, Ivy and Alistor all moved forward, flicking the safeties off their guns. They stood, barrels not quite touching the temples of the soldiers, and then nodded once.

Jamie raised her hands, focused her concentration, and then made a violent jerking motion. The other three were ready, pulling the triggers immediately and then jumping out the way as the Jeep slammed forward, the dead soldier's foot still on the gas peddle.

They didn't talk, barely looked at each other, just ran inside with guns drawn, shooting down the soldiers they ran across without even stopping. Michelle was considerably slower than the others because she was half-supporting Jamie.

"You sure you're up for this?" she asked, turning down a side-corridor and shooting a soldier in the chest.

"I don't have a choice," Jamie replied quietly, staring at her feet as she walked.

"I could hotwire a truck, maybe. At least then you wouldn't have to walk."

"I can't maintain a bubble around a fast-moving object, you know that."

"So we'll drive slow. Can you handle about ten miles an hour?"

Jamie frowned for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, should be able to do that."

"Cool. Oh shit!"

Michelle pushed Jamie roughly to the side with one hand, aiming and shooting with the other. One soldier fell down, twitching, and Michelle threw herself to the side, feeling a bullet graze her arm, leaving a grail of burning pain. She cursed again, squeezing the trigger despite knowing that her bullet wouldn't hit anything major. Still, it was enough to distract him for a moment, clutching his thigh with desperate hands. She lunged forward, slamming the butt of her gun into the brunette's chin before spinning and punching the other guard. Her knuckles stung fiercely but she ignored it as she grabbed a gun from the floor and shot the remaining guards. She stood still for a moment, panting, whole body trembling.

Then her eyes fell on Jamie, who lay crumpled on the floor, eyes only half open. A light touch brushed against her shields and she foolishly let it into her heart, nearly collapsing as mind-numbing exhaustion washed through her body. Her whole being ached, mind body and soul, and she just wanted to sleep, curl up somewhere and let it all go, just rest for a little bit, she couldn't go on anymore…

Gritting her teeth, she pushed she emotions back outside her shields, running quickly through a breathing exercise to help distance herself from Jamie, who was watching her with distant eyes.

"God, Jamie, you can't do this," Michelle whispered, walking over to the girl and helping her into a sitting position.

"Have to," Jamie mumbled. "No choice. Let's go."

Michelle grimaced, wanting to say no, this is ridiculous, you can't go on. But she didn't say that, because she knew that Jamie really did have no choice. Without Jamie, she didn't stand a chance of getting the prisoners out of danger and if they lost the prisoners, any other victory would be hollow and meaningless.

Sighing, Michelle helped Jamie to her feet and hooked an arm around the younger girl's waist, walking slowly down the corridor. She forgot about the wounds she'd received until she became aware of the warm blood trickling slowly down her arm. She glanced at it, looking at the tear in her sleeve and the bright crimson stain. Then she just shrugged one shoulder and carried on walking.

(0)

By the time they reached the containment cells, Jamie could barely walk and Michelle was down to her last three bullets in her Beretta. Apparently, the sirens blaring and lights flashing had alerted the guards to something wrong because as soon as they stepped around the corner, the guards opened fire on them. Michelle cursed and flattened herself against the wall, holstering her Beretta and taking hold of the mini-Uzi strapped to her back. She took a deep breath and fired a short burst blindly around the corner, just enough to make the guards take cover. She darted around the corner and ran forwards, waiting until the guards peeked over the upturned desk they'd been using as cover. She squeezed the trigger, fighting the recoil of the gun, and tried not to look as the bullets ripped open the guards' skulls in sprays of red blood and grey brain matter.

The sudden descent of silence after so much gunfire made her ears ring and she shook her head, holding the gun in one hand as she walked back to Jamie. The girl hadn't moved and appeared to be asleep, but she opened her eyes as Michelle approached and tried to struggle to her feet, only to slump back to the ground with a pained grunt.

"Can you even use your powers?" Michelle asked, pulling Jamie to her feet and helping her walk.

"Yeah… Be alright…. So tired…"

Michelle grimaced at the faint breath of sound, feeling the younger mutant tremble with the effort of speaking. She sat Jamie down at the computer and kept one hand on her back to help her remain upright. Jamie whimpered and put her hands lightly on the keyboard, trying to keep them steady. Her typing was slow, her breathing laboured and her expression pained, but she still struggled on, staring intently at the screen all the time.

After several long, tense minutes a high-pitched alarm mixed with the others and Jamie slumped backwards into Michelle's arms.

"Done," she breathed, and Michelle set her gently on the floor before rushing off towards the containment cells.

The cell doors were all open but only a couple of mutants had wandered out, looking around cautiously. They didn't appear to be injured too badly-cuts and bruises and by the looks of it, one broken arm, but that was it. They were obviously the newest mutants, and they regarded Michelle with frightened eyes. She smiled reassuringly at them, slowing down to a walk.

"It's alright, I'm a good guy-I'm here to get you out of here."

It took a few minutes to organise the mutants who were dazed and confused. There was a teenaged girl with bloody, battered angel wings and Michelle asked if she was still capable of flying. When the answer was yes, she handed her one of the younger mutants and gave her directions to Mark's house. She also found the mutant who had teleported Mitchell from their basement so very long ago. It was a boy, barely thirteen years old, and Michelle quickly got him to teleport five of the more seriously injured mutants back to Mark. That left her with twenty mutants and she led them back out to Jamie, cradling a young girl in her arms.

They made it to the motor pool without too many difficulties. They crossed paths with Envee at one point and she explained that she'd been separated from Rogue. There was blood drying on her cheek and a slash across her upper-arm but she assured them she was fine before sprinting off down a side-corridor to continue her mission.

Michelle ushered the mutants into the back of a large truck and checked they were reasonable comfortable before helping Jamie into the passenger seat and climbing into the driver's seat herself. It was only the work of a minute to hotwire it and she said a quick prayer of thanks to Envee for teaching her how before she revved the engine and drove out into the open air. After a moment's silence she flicked on the radio to a pop music channel and heard one of the mutants utter a breathy burst of relieved laughter.


	38. Chapter Thirty Eight

Notes: **Squick alert**! This chapter contains some content that some people may not like due to the fact that Ivy slaughters a bunch of soldiers. Though, if you stomached the torture chapter way back, you can probably handle this. Enjoy and review!

Chapter Thirty Eight

Kar spat out a string of curses, quickly shoving another magazine into his mini-Uzi before releasing a short burst of fire down the corridor. He could feel Ivy at his side, a solid presence of warmth and tension. He risked a glance downwards to find that she had staunched the blood flowing from her thigh. The bullet had missed her femoral artery, thankfully, but it was still lodged inside her and needed to be removed quickly. Until then, the best she could do was slow the bleeding and numb the pain.

Bullets whizzed past and Kar snapped his attention back to the fight, only vaguely aware of Ivy popping a small, white pill into her mouth. She swallowed it and held still for a moment until the drug began to take effect, then grabbed her gun up off the floor and stood up, albeit with a small grimace of pain.

"We're a bit stuck, Ivy," Kar said quietly, twisting around the corner to fire another small burst. He knew he wasn't hitting anything, the soldiers were too smart and too protected, but at least it kept them from advancing down the corridor towards them.

"I noticed."

"Any suggestions?"

Ivy hesitated before nodding. "Just one."

"I'm all ears."

"You cover me whilst I go down there and slaughter the bastards."

Kar snapped his head around to stare at her in amazement. She glared at him, silently daring him to question it, and after a tense second he just nodded. He knew she didn't want to do it but they'd both agreed to do whatever it took to complete this mission, even if they didn't like it.

Ivy closed her eyes for a second, trying to cling to her sanity, her humanity. She could feel the beast lurking in her back of her mind, a shadow waiting to consume her, to turn her into a vicious beast that thought only of food and survival. It knew what she was thinking, what she was going to do, and she felt it swell up, grow larger, pushing at the bars of the cage she kept it in. Gritting her teeth, Ivy unlocked that cage and let the beast free.

It swarmed over her like a plague, consuming her like fire, and she felt all rational thought get burned away like paper. She was only vaguely aware of her body changing, shifting into a physical representation of the beast, but she was mostly focused on the battle in her mind. The beast enveloped her mind completely, pushing her into the cage it was forced to live in, locking the door and forcing her to watch, helpless, as it took control of her body and did brutal, savage things that would haunt her for years.

She growled, glad to be free after weeks of imprisonment, and looked at Kar with fierce, feral eyes. He stood still, watching her warily, until she had decided that he wasn't a threat, that he wasn't food. But something nearby was… She sniffed, tasting sweat and fear hanging in the air like smoke, and growled again. Kar turned around and fired a short burst of gunfire down the hall and that was a signal, somehow, meant something that her primitive brain couldn't understand, but then she was racing down the hall, rushing towards her prey, her food, and she didn't care about not understanding it.

The humans weren't ready for her, not prepared for her savage attack. They crumpled like paper dolls underneath her claws, screaming and moaning as she slashed and bit and killed them. Blood flew in arcs through the air, splashing against her torn clothes, staining the walls and floor like paint. When the last weak human had fallen to her, she started to feed, biting into their delicious, human flesh and swallowing their sweet, warm blood. She was so hungry, hadn't fed in weeks, months, and they were so tasty, warm and meaty, plenty of food to slake her hunger.

She felt someone approaching and growled warningly, licking at the blood that had splashed onto her chin. She crouched protectively in front of the corpses, willing to defend her food, but hesitated when Kar stopped just a couple of feet away. Something inside her, some instinct that she wasn't familiar with, told her that this human wasn't food, wasn't a threat. She didn't understand that-everything was either prey or threat, but that instinct, that voice, told her again that this human was neither. He was… something else.

"Ivy?"

His voice, it was familiar, but she didn't know why. She made an uncertain, mewling sound, shifting back a step.

Kar took a tentative step forward, hands held up to show that he was unarmed. "Ivy? It's me, Ivy, Kar. You don't want to hurt me, Ivy; I'm your friend. I'm… a friend. And I need you to be Ivy again. You did a good job, killing them, and I thank you, but I need you to be human again."

No! She didn't want to be Ivy again! Ivy was weak and pathetic and _human_, and she never wanted to be that again. Wait, when was she ever human? She was an animal, wasn't she? She let out a loud snarl of confusion, not used to this storm of complicated emotion and thought. She dug her claws into the nearest body, feeling the soft flesh tear and break, and felt something in the back of her mind break free, pushing its way towards the front of her brain.

She snarled around, letting out a long howl of pain, and somewhere along the way it changed and became a human screaming.

Ivy drew in a ragged breath, staring up at Kar for a moment before looking down. Her hands were still buried in one of the corpses, blood staining her clothes and skin. She looked around at the blood-splattered corridor, at the mutilated corpses, and felt nausea well up within her. She scuttled to the side, and vomited loudly, feeling her stomach twist and heave, the sharp smell of blood hanging in the air still. She felt a hand on her forehead, holding her hair out of her face, and another was rubbing at her back, but she could give it no more than a cursory thought before she vomited again, and again, until she was dry-heaving.

It was several long minutes until she stopped, and she gratefully accepted the small bottle of water that Kar grabbed from his pack. It helped wash away the lingering tastes of vomit and human flesh, and when she was done, breathless and sweaty, she just curled up against Kar's warm body, too tired to care about the position. And he apparently didn't mind, because he just wrapped his arms around her and rocked her gently like a child, not even worrying about the mission or being out in the open because for the moment, this was more important.


	39. Chapter Thirty Nine

Notes: I've realised as I wrote this chapter that I've forgotten to use their codenames during this mission. After a bit of thought, I've realised that I like it this way and probably won't be including their codenames again, and probably not in the sequel either, unless I have no choice. This is a bit of a calm-down chapter, a break in the action before the next chapter which, hopefully, will be quite long and very good.

Notes2: Extra big thanks to angyl-devyl for your fabulous review, especially for the con crit. Once I've finished this and have the sequel well under way, I plan to go back and slowly rewrite it, hopefully fixing mistakes and answering questions. That said, on with the chapter and sorry it's a bit short

Chapter Thirty Nine

Selene let out a sigh of relief, collapsing against the wall. Alistor was standing by the window, watching the corridor carefully, and Selene smiled at him.

"You don't let up, do you?" she asked and he just grunted, not even glancing at her.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he mumbled after a second and she smiled again, limping slowly over to the desk and sitting down. As she booted up the computer, she reached down and massaged her ankle, which she had twisted and then had shot. Luckily, it was little more than a graze, but it did make walking a bitch.

Flexing her fingers, wincing as little sparks of pain shot out from the gash along her palm, she quickly typed in a few basic commands that granted her access to the system's core. Streams of data strolled over the screen and she looked at it for a moment, noting with a touch of admiration at the complexity of it all. She wouldn't mind sitting down to unravel this metaphorical ball of twine, and knew that Jamie wouldn't mind it either. However, duty came first, and she dug the small diskette out of her pocket, slipping it into the drive and bringing up the window.

Smiling grimly, Selene clicked on the icon and watched with no small amount of satisfaction as the virus began eating away at the system. A small blue bar appeared, slowly tracking the virus' progress and she waited a moment to make sure it really was working before turning around to look at Alistor.

He was still standing by the window, crystalline armour gleaming in the harsh fluorescent light and sword gripped tightly in his hand. It was stained with blood, little droplets dripping from the edge to create a small puddle of crimson liquid by his feet.

"How's your ankle?" he asked, glancing at her for a second before looking back at the window.

"Hurts, but I'm used to working through pain. You injured?"

"No."

They were silent for a minute, Alistor still scanning the corridor outside and Selene watching the computer, before Alistor sighed softly.

"I've killed a dozen people today," he murmured, and she looked at him with a curious frown. "Before all this… I wasn't a killer. I mean, I wasn't some great pacifist and if you pushed me I'd push back, but… I'd never killed before. No matter what anyone did, to me or someone else, I always… I left them alive, at least. Hurt, broken, bloody, paralysed and in pieces a couple of times, but always alive. And now… dozens of them. What kind of person does that make me, Selene? What kind of… monster?"

"You are _not _a monster," Selene said savagely. "You are a fighter. You did what you had to to protect hundreds of innocent people. They deserved to die, Alistor. If you'd left them alive, they would've hurt and killed people whose only crime was to be born a mutant. Their blood is dirty and I feel no regret over having spilled it."

Alistor bowed his head, a small tremor running through his shoulders and down his back. "I don't think I can be like that," he said quietly. "I can't be like you."

Selene glared at him, not liking this conversation one bit. "You don't have to. You can hurt over them, you can regret your actions, you can pray for fucking redemption if you want, but what you _can't _do, is wimp out on me. If we go back out there and run into more soldiers, I need to know that you're gonna kill them. And if you can't do that, then tell me now and I'll continue on my own because I don't need a fucking liability like that right now."

Tense, brittle silence filled the room before Alistor let out a heavy huff of breath. "No. I can't ask you to do that. If you go back out there, I'll go with you. I'll… God, I'll kill to protect you."

Selene bit her lip and hobbled over to him, placing her hands on his broad shoulders so that he turned to face her. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the sheer agony in his crystal blue eyes. He licked his lips, taking a deep steadying breath and tried to smile for her, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"I'm sorry you have to do this," she whispered and he nodded. Smiling softly, she stood on tiptoe so that she could place a gentle kiss against his cheek, memorising the way his armour felt against her lips, and then limped back to the computer.

The virus was moving along slowly but surely, corrupting and then deleting everything it came across. She watched it for a moment, absently drumming her fingers against the desk in an, her nails making sharp, clicking noises. The movement aggravated the slice along her palm though so she quickly stopped, instead chewing on a fingernail. She could feel Alistor's presence, could feel the cackling of nervous tension in the room, and it was making her edgy.

"You feel it too, don't you?" Alistor asked softly, and she felt her shoulders hunch. "You pretend you don't, you act as if it doesn't affect you, but it does. You're just trying to hide it."

"Not to sound harsh, sweetie, but shut the fuck up. I have to focus." She didn't mean on the virus, that was running smoothly all on its own; she meant on the general mission, on the main goal of defeating the Agency. She couldn't stop to think about her actions for fear that she wouldn't be able to continue. For some odd reason, that comforted Alistor, and he felt a twisted, grim smile curl his lips.

After several more minutes of silence, the virus finished its work and the blue progress bar flashed at Selene. She ejected the disk and checked that the virus had been successful. She smiled when she saw that it had, the complex system reduced to nothing. Standing up, she hobbled over to the door and glanced out the corridor, even though Alistor hadn't stopped guarding her for a second.

"You ready?" she asked quietly, and felt him nod behind her. She licked her lips and drew her gun again flicking off the safety. She took a deep breath, holding it for a second before slowly letting it out. "Then let's do this."

Moving quickly, with Alistor behind her, she walked through the blood-splattered and corpse-filled corridors, trying to block out the stench of death and the sight of what she, and her teammates, had done.


	40. Chapter Fourty

Notes: I am SO SORRY for the long wait. I was without my laptop for a while and this chapter was just a bitch to write. So if anyone's still actually interested, here is the Big Fight between Rogue and Mitchell. Enjoy and review!

Chapter Fourty

The breath was burning in her lungs, her skin slick with sweat and blood, her heart pounding fiercely in her chest, but she ignored it all as she sprinted down the corridor, skidding around the corner and reaching out to touch the wall briefly to steady herself. She knew she was close, knew that with every second she was gaining another inch on him, but he knew the layout of the base better than she did, knew where all the secret corridors and dead ends were. She had to get to him before he used some cunning little trick to escape her, she wasn't going to let him get away again. No, it ended here, now.

Gulping down some air, she forced herself to speed up just a little, gritting her teeth against the pain in her leg muscles, and rounded another corner. This time she was able to catch the briefest glimpse of Mitchell before he rushed into a side room.

Feeling a spark of triumph flicker to life within her, Rogue followed him and found him pounding on a door on the far left wall. He was swiping his key card repeatedly through the reader but it only bleeped at him, the door remaining steadfastly closed.

Saying a quick silent thank you to Jamie's virus, Rogue drew her gun and aimed at Mitchell, but he must have heard her because he dived to the side, her bullet hitting the door instead. Cursing, she tracked his movements with her gun, but he was quick, running around haphazardly so that she could never get a clear shot. He was trapped, she was between him and the way out and they both knew that.

Rogue quickly realised that Mitchell wasn't going to give her a clear shot any time soon so she reluctantly lowered her gun, shifting her feet slightly so that it was more of a fighting stance.

Mitchell was quick, she had to give him that. He didn't even stop running around like a headless chicken when she put up her gun, he just changed course ever so slightly and barreled right into her. Grunting, Rogue collapsed to the floor, pinned down underneath his weight, and felt her gun go spinning out of her hand.

Acting on pure instinct, Rogue jerked her knee up into his groin, put her hands on his shoulders, and pushed, shoving him off her and flipping herself onto her feet. She shifted backwards, watching as he staggered to his feet whilst trying to see where her gun had gone. She had others, of course, but that gun was her primary gun, the one that she'd had since the beginning, and she wanted to use it to kill Mitchell. It was stupid and symbolic in a corny sort of way, but she couldn't help but want to use the gun that Xavier had given her to kill Mitchell.

Mitchell lunged at her, aiming for a mid-body tackle like a football player, and she quickly shifted her stance, reaching out so that she could throw him into the ground as soon as he was in reach. He went down with a loud grunt, the air rushing out of his lungs, but he recovered quickly and sprang to his feet. She was surprised, she hadn't thought he was that agile or athletic. He was, however, big, and there was not an ounce of fat on his body. He outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds and that meant that she would just have to be a better fighter, skill against muscles.

Rogue grinned mirthlessly, feeling an extra little surge of adrenaline spark to life within her, and she darted forward, lashing out to claw at his face and following it up with a sharp roundhouse kick that sent him flying. She didn't give him time to recover, following him across the room and punching him hard enough that she felt his jaw crack. He gave a loud, incoherent moan of pain and flailed at her wildly. She was able to dodge for a second, but one of his fists caught her square in the jaw and sent her stumbling back.

Rogue reached down and drew one of her last remaining knives, flipping it open and lunging forward. The blade sunk into his shoulder, tearing through flesh and muscle until it scraped bone. He screamed and went down to his knees, clawing at the knife, but she was standing behind him, one arm thrown across his throat to restrict his air supply. Giving the knife a little twist and jerk, she looked around for her gun and finally saw it resting near the far wall.

She should have been paying more attention to Mitchell, and she cursed herself for the lapse as he somehow managed to reach behind him, apparently ignoring the knife in his shoulder, to grab hold of her and flip her over his head. She fell to the ground with a loud grunt, her head cracking into the concrete just a second after her shoulder and making black spots dance before her eyes. She groaned and shook her head a little, rolling out of the way just before Mitchell could slam a knee into her face. Her bloody knife was lying on the floor and he kicked it to the side. She let him, she didn't need a weapon to gain an edge.

Mitchell rushed at her, slamming his knee into her stomach so that she doubled over, the breath rushing out of her lungs, and he grabbed hold of her, pulling her off the ground with apparent ease and throwing her into the wall, where she crumpled to the floor like a broken doll. She felt something in her shoulder crack and knew that it was serious, but it wasn't important right now, and she stumbled to her feet, staggering forward and using the momentum to give her punches extra strength.

Rogue grunted, slamming her fists into Mitchell's face in a fierce, rapid pattern, stepping forward as he stumbled back. She moved by instinct, twisting her body to evade his weak attempts at retaliation, ducking and turning and dodging, lashing out with fists and feet, not thinking, barely breathing, just _moving_. And finally, when a sharp uppercut made him pause and stagger backwards, she dived to the side, towards her fallen gun, twisting as she fell so that she landed on her side. Scooping up the gun, she aimed and fired in one smooth movement.

Time froze. The world held its breath. Mitchell blinked in confusion, rising one hand to pat at his chest. His fingers came away crimson, dripping precious red blood, and he dropped to his knees, staring up at her in a mixture of shock and disbelief.

Rogue walked forward, watching impassively as he swayed before collapsing completely to the floor. She knelt down beside him and pressed the cold barrel of the gun to the center of his forehead. For a moment she didn't do anything, but then a grim, twisted smile that left her eyes empty curled her lips.

"You lose," she said quietly, and squeezed the trigger. Mitchell's head disappeared in an explosion of blood and brain matter, some of it splattering unnoticed on to Rogue's face.

Letting the poor excuse for a smile fade from her expression, Rogue stood up and walked slowly out of the room, gripping her gun tightly and not looking back.


	41. Chapter Forty One

Notes: There are two versions of this chapter, this one and one that has a bit of Romy in it. I'll be posting the Romy chapter as a sidefic later today. Enjoy and review!

Chapter Forty One

Rogue stumbled down from the truck, wincing and pressing a hand against her injured shoulder as pain screamed through the joint. Glancing back at her bloody but proud team, she walked into Mark's shack and glanced around the grand lobby, searching for some sign of Michelle or Remy. A fierce scream erupted from the stifling silence and the Roses jerked, instinctively reaching for their weapons.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Kar demanded, unsure if he should put his knife away.

"Upstairs," Rogue muttered, slowly climbing the stairs and trying to ignore the little starbursts of pain that shot through her weak, injured body.

"I ain't no fucking doctor, missy! I don't know what the hell I'm doing here!"

"Just hold her still! I've got to splint this leg or it won't heal right. Hold her the fuck still, dammit!"

Rogue pushed open a set of double doors and raised an eyebrow at the scene before her. The room was large and filled with cots and hospital beds, various pieces of medical instrumentation dotted about the place, bags of IV fluid lying on trays with packets of blood. Most of the beds were filled with the prisoners they'd rescued, all of them in varying degrees of pain. A few of the lucky ones were unconscious, drifting peacefully in a drugged sleep. Most of them, however, were awake and twitching, whimpering, crying with pain and relief.

Michelle and Mark were standing beside a bed near the window, with Mark holding down a young, blue-haired girl whilst Michelle attempted to splint her leg, which had been broken in three places. Remy was standing in the corner, looking a little lost, and when he saw Rogue he walked towards her immediately. He'd barely stopped before her before he was wrapping his arms around her body and holding her close to him.

"I was worried about you, cher," he murmured into her hair before drawing away. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. How is everyone?"

Remy ignored her obvious lie and turned to look at the injured mutants with a heavy sigh. "They need doctors, and fast. Michelle is doing what she can, but she's not good enough and she can't be in a dozen places at once. Some of them are okay, must not have been there long, but a couple are… on the edge. Infected wounds, bones not set properly, malnutrition, starvation, sleep deprivation… it's a long list."

"Where's Jamie?" Alistor asked. "Can't she help?"

Remy snorted. "She's damn near comatose. Using her powers so much completely wiped her out, she collapsed as soon as they were clear of the base, according to Michelle, and she's been dead to the world ever since."

Rogue turned to look at her team, noting the injuries they were all sporting with a little frown. "Patch yourselves up as best you can," she ordered brusquely, "And then help out wherever you can, at least try to make them comfortable and don't skimp on the sedatives. I want someone to check in on Jamie every fifteen minutes and report any problems or peculiarities to me immediately. We've done the mission, now let's do the clean up."

The Roses nodded and moved further into the room, pulling at their clothing and tossing the torn, bloodstained garments into a corner. Rogue turned towards the door but a hand descended on her shoulder and made her pause.

"You need help, cher," Remy said quietly. "You need to be patched up too."

"I'm fine," Rogue mumbled, twisting her shoulder away from his hand and striding quickly out of the room before he could stop her again. She walked swiftly down the hall, wincing only slightly as her shoulder complained. She walked into her room and glanced briefly at the large bed, but passed on the option of sleeping in favor of having a shower.

The water was scalding hot, pounding against her skin in a fierce pattern, lashing into still-bleeding cuts and beating against tender bruises. It soaked her hair and washed away the dirt, grime and blood from her skin. She opened her mouth to let the hot water spill past her lips and down her throat, making her choke and cough before doing it again, not quite sure why because it burned the roof of her mouth and the back of her throat. Running her hands over her body, she let herself feel her wounds, running her fingertips over the edges of cuts, pressing against the livid bruises. She put one hand on her shoulder and squeezed, biting her lip as the pain shot through her body.

Rogue collapsed to her knees, feeling the water from the shower beat against her back and neck. Her body trembled with unshed tears, the need to sob and shout and scream and cry clawing at her throat and making her shake violently.

He was dead. She had killed him. After all the waiting, all the pain and the tears and the anger and all of it, he was finally dead. He couldn't hurt her anymore, couldn't control her or threaten her. He couldn't hurt her family, they were safe from his evil. She didn't have to worry about him anymore.

Tears splashed onto her cheeks, mingling with the shower water, and a loud, broken sob escaped her. She barely noticed when the shower door slid open, or that someone had turned off the water, the sudden chill making her shiver even more.

But then someone was kneeling down beside her, a gloved hand sweeping her wet hair off her face and caressing her cheek. Someone was pulling her shoulders, careful of the injured one, tugging her towards them, and after a moment's resistance, she let herself fall, clinging to their warm body and letting the tears and the sobs consume her.

Remy sighed and closed his eyes, holding Rogue for long minutes without ever saying a word. When Rogue had finally calmed down, he was the first one to let go, smiling down at her confused face.

"You never ask for help, cher," he murmured, trailing a fingertip down her cheek. "But that doesn't mean you don't need it."

A weak smile tugged at the corners of her lips and climbed unsteadily to her feet, realising for the first time that she was completely naked in front of him. Blushing ever so slightly, she grabbed a towel and quickly wrapped it around her body, stepping out of the shower. She hesitated at the door though, turning her head just enough to catch a glimpse of Remy.

"Thank you," she said quietly, before fleeing into the bedroom. She spent more time than was necessary looking for clean clothes in her bag, not looking up until she heard the door click quietly shut.

Sighing, Rogue flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Thoughts flew around in her mind too fast for her to understand, and she wanted so much to just fall asleep and finally get some rest, but there were still things to do. She had to check on Jamie, talk to her team and see how they were doing-especially Alistor, she had a funny feeling about him-then she had to get back to America and see Cathryn before going to the White House and somehow convincing the President to free all the mutants, and then… and then… well, she didn't know what would happen after that, but there was bound to be something. There always was.


	42. Chapter Forty Two

Notes: I don't like this chapter. It's not my best and I'm sorry, but I can't rewrite it any better, God knows I've tried. This is one of those necessary chapters where things get tied up a little. Now that the fight's over, it's time for the talking. And yes, this means things are nearing the end. Enjoy and review!

Chapter Forty Two

Rogue glanced down at Jamie, placing a hand on the young girl's shoulder.

"You sure you're up to this?" she asked quietly. "If you're not strong enough, I could probably get in on my own."

Jamie smiled slightly. "Just don't get shot, I'm not up to both healing and time-shifting. Besides, I don't think the President would take kindly to you killing and or incapacitating a dozen or so Secret Service goons. You ready?"

Rogue nodded and Jamie raised her hands, biting her lower lip as she concentrated, forming thin tendrils of power that coalesced into a shimmering ball of power. Flicking her fingers, she forced the bubble to expand and swallow them, shifting them out of the river of time.

"You do realise that if there's not an open window, we're in buggered," Jamie said quietly as they walked across the street to the White House. "We won't be able to open any doors or move anything when we're in the bubble, it's physically impossible."

"We'll just have to hope for a bit of luck," Rogue replied, helping Jamie to climb the fence before quickly following her. They dropped down to the ground and walked slowly across the expansive lawn.

"Do you want me to stay when you talk to him?" Jamie asked, searching for an open window.

"Yeah, I'd rather not have to fight my way out if things go pear-shaped. Over there. And when did you start swearing?"

Jamie smiled shyly as they walked over to an open. "Envee's been rubbing off on me."

Rogue chucked dryly and slipped inside the window, holding out a hand for Jamie. They walked quickly through the corridors, stepping past motionless clerks and Secret Service agents.

The Oval Office was filled with people, most of them holding bits of paper or talking on phones. President Kelley was sitting at his desk, shifting through reports with a worried frown. Rogue looked at him for a moment, wondering about how the next few minutes would go. She felt like she was going into battle, tiny bursts of adrenalin spurting through her bloodstream, but this wasn't any battle she could win with strength and weaponry. This was unfamiliar territory, where violence wouldn't help. She needed her brains for this fight, and she wasn't used to that. she just hoped she was up to this new challenge. Because if she wasn't, then mutantkind was doomed. She sighed quietly and hoped this would go alright.

"Hands up and empty, Jamie, we don't want to spook them too much," she ordered, raising her own hands to show that she wasn't holding a weapon. Jamie mimicked her and flicked her fingers. Sound rushed back and people instantly began moving again.

The Secret Service agents reacted immediately, shouting and reaching for their weapons, two of them grabbing hold of the President. After a second they realised that Jamie and Rogue weren't making a move and hesitated.

"We don't mean to hurt anyone," Rogue said quietly, "But we need to talk to the President." She watched the men in front of her carefully, keeping her eyes on their weapons and fighting down the urge to draw her own gun. Having half a dozen people aiming at her kicked her battle instincts into action and she had to resist the temptation to shoot them down before they hurt her or Jamie.

"Identify yourselves, now!"

"My name is Rogue, and this is Jamie Phillips. We're mutants and we have come to petition for the release of our fellow mutants. Mr. President, you know who I am, but you don't know who Mitchell was. He lied to you, manipulated you, and we need to talk about that."

There was a moment of uncertain silence, before the President made a discreet signal to the men around him, waiting until they'd all relaxed a little before speaking.

"That was quite an entrance, Miss….?"

Rogue hesitated for a split second before saying, "Summers. Rogue Summers. And it was the only way we could get in here-you wouldn't have granted me a meeting if I'd called up and asked. Now, we need to talk."

"Very well."

Rogue nodded, looking around for a moment before sitting down on one of the sofas. She wondered where to begin, how could she possibly explain the situation truthfully and in detail, without talking for days.

"Mitchell hated mutants," she said after a minute, because that seemed like a good starting point. "I don't know why and I don't care, but he viewed us as dangerous, threatening monsters. We're not. We're just different. But he refused to see that, and so he made it his personal mission to have us all arrested and executed. My comrades and I have been fighting him because he was _wrong_. He lied to you, constantly, to get you to do what he wanted. He's dead now, by the way, as is his entire faction, and his main facility is closed off from time. And now you need to release the mutants because they're innocent. They haven't done anything wrong except be born with a few differences. We're not a threat, Mr. President, and we're not going to go away. You have to learn to live with us."

President Kelley was quiet for a long time, looking at her thoughtfully, and Rogue wondered what she would do if he said no. She couldn't force him to agree to her demand, and if he agreed with Mitchell, had let the insane man corrupt his thoughts… she just didn't know what she'd do.

"I have a few concerns, Miss Summers," he said after a few minutes. "You have to agree that some of the mutants out there are incredibly powerful-yourself included, the girl with the poisonous touch. And I believe your young companion can manipulate time. Such power is frightening and could do a lot of damage. And as it stands, we have no defense against them."

"What's your point?" Rogue asked sullenly, not liking the fact that she couldn't dispute anything he'd said.

"My point is that I cannot, in good conscience, release those mutants back into the populace, not without some way of protecting the rest of the country's citizens from them."

"I assume you have a plan."

"Yes. The Mutant Control and Defense Agency. It would be a way of policing the mutants, and of protecting them from hate crimes and bashings."

"Sounds like a good plan, good luck with that. And if that means you'll be releasing the mutants, I'm done here."

Rogue stood up to go, Jamie following suit, and had made it to the door before the President stopped her.

"I want you to be in charge of the Agency, Miss Summers."

Rogue froze, staring at the white wood of the door with wide eyes. She blinked, letting the information sink in for a moment. She hadn't expected that and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about the offer. She knew he had an alternative agenda, he'd been far too quick to agree with her, it was too easy. He should've fought with her, argued his case, not just given in after one little speech. He had a plan and she was a part of it, and she hated that. She was no one's puppet.

"I've been fighting for most of my life, Mr. President," she murmured after a long pause, not entirely sure why she was even speaking at all. She could just walk out, leave him to do whatever he wanted, ruin his plan, whatever it was. But for some reason, she stayed continued talking. "I've been used and manipulated, tortured and tormented. I've lost everyone and everything I've ever loved. I've sacrificed everything I had for my cause, even my humanity. And I'm tired of it. I don't want to fight anymore, don't want to lose anything else." Rogue closed her eyes, resting her forehead against the door.

"I just want to rest."

"I understand that, Miss Summers, but you are a highly unique individual. You have skills and talents that no one else does."

Rogue opened her eyes, turning to look at President Kelley. Her eyes flicked over Jamie, sitting quietly and patiently on the sofa, but she ignored her for the moment. "My Roses are nearly as good as me, and when they work as a unit, they are damn near unstoppable."

"Only if they have a good leader. Will they follow anyone else?"

It was a rhetorical question, they both knew the answer. Rogue sighed and looked away from his pointed gaze. Nearly five full minutes passed before she answered.

"I'll talk to my Roses," she said quietly. "If they accept your offer, I'll consider it, but the final decision will rest with me. I'll return in forty eight hours."


	43. Epilogue

Notes: Yep, this is it. The end. It's shorter than I intended, but it says everything I wanted to say. I've already started working on the sequel and I should begin posting quite soon. I just want to say a huge thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed, your encouragement stopped me from abandoning this fic long ago. So I hope you enjoy this short little ending, don't forget to review, and I'll see you at the sequel : )

Epilogue

Rogue stared down at the sprawling city beneath her. She leaned against the fence, feeling a light breeze brushing her skin and hearing it rustle the leaves of the tree next to her. That was her city down there, her home, the one place she ever felt remotely safe. She knew the streets, knew the people, and if that knowledge was often dark and violent, if she knew a person simply because she'd fought them, it was still knowledge, still her city. And she was its guardian. But she wasn't alone, she had her Roses with her, helping her keep her home safe. And now, apparently, she had the government helping her too.

The Roses had surprised her by agreeing to the President's offer. They'd been suspicious, naturally, and had poked at it all night, but had decided that the best thing to do would be play along and wait to see what happened. They liked the idea of not being hunted for what they did, of being free to investigate and act and protect the mutants as they saw fit. If it came with a couple of catches, they were willing to deal with them.

She was so proud of them for that. They'd all grown up so much since the time she first met them, they'd stopped being punk mutant kids and transformed into hard, logical people who were willing to do what they had to in order to protect others. They were her family, and they were every bit as good as the X-Men.

Rogue let out a deep breath and looked up at the clear summer sky. It was such a peaceful day, bright and cheerful. She hadn't been able to enjoy a day like this in years. For the first time since she left the X-Men, she felt like she could rest. And not rest like she'd intended. She knew now that she couldn't leave, couldn't die. She was still needed, her Roses and mutants she didn't even know needed her to lead them, protect them. She didn't want to fail them. And she was slowly realising that she didn't want to die, either.

With Michelle's help, she was gradually reawakening her humanity, dusting off her soul and giving it a little polish. She was learning that she didn't have to be a vicious, cold-hearted killer all the time. Sometimes, it was okay for her to relax, and be herself, and let her Roses handle things without her for a day or so. Even if it was just an hour spent relaxing in a bubble bath, it was still one hour where she could forget about her worries.

Rogue smiled, chuckling quietly to herself, and began walking back to the city. She still had work to do.

-End


End file.
